The Day Bad Things Never Ceased
by WhatIsThisNormalYouSpeakOf
Summary: When Merlin shows up for work sick, Arthur sends him back to bed, worried only about why Merlin would lie about Gaius's whereabouts. And everything goes down hill from there. Mid season 4. Lots of Merlin whump. Featuring sick!Merlin and evil!Gaius
1. Chapter 1

Merlin coughed painfully, causing Arthur to wince.

"Merlin." he said, trying to disguise the worry in his voice. "What on earth are you doing?"

Merlin froze, the laundry he was folding hanging loosely over one arm. "Um..." he tried to decide on the best response. "Laundry folding- ing?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Arthur asked loudly. For a moment, Merlin flinched, thinking perhaps Arthur had somehow found out about his magic and was about to go into a rant on how Merlin had betrayed him by lying to him. But no, he decided. If Arthur found out he had magic, Merlin would already be in the dungeons, or dead.

Which did nothing to help the feeling of unease in his stomach.

"You look bloody awful." Arthur continued, and Merlin felt his shoulders relax. "How could Gaius let you go to work like this?" Merlin looked down and swallowed, ignoring how much it pained his raw throat. "What?" Arthur saw the guilty look in his manservant's eye.

"Gaius is- in the lower town." Merlin said after a moment. "There's been an out break of- something." It sounded false in his own ears. "Something dangerous." he added, hoping it would give his story some more bone.

Arthur picked up on the obvious false hood, but decided to contemplate why Merlin would lie about Gaius's location later, and worry about his sick idiot now.

"Go to bed." Arthur instructed Merlin, who set down the laundry without complaint. He must have been worse off then Arthur had originally thought- Merlin is usually rebellious to the point of stupidity, always doing the opposite of whatever his king instructed. "Are you alright getting there?"

"I've been in Camelot long enough to know my way to my room." Merlin turned to leave. That wasn't what Arthur had meant, of course Merlin knew his way to Gaius's chambers. Arthur had been worried that Merlin might not be able to make it there on his own. The boy did look awful, breathing heavily at the slightest movement, off coloured skin, a tad of sweat on his brow. Merlin's clothing looked rumpled, as if he had worn the same shirt and trousers to bed and hadn't bothered to smoothen them out before bringing Arthur his breakfast. And he was missing that dumb dishrag he wore around his neck, every day without prevail. Arthur had seen Merlin without his neckerchief maybe twice, and neither of them had been very good situations. The fact that the idiot wasn't wearing it today was an omen of bad luck.

Arthur just didn't realise how much worse things would become.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all for the great response to the first chapter! I really appreciate everyone's reviews! By popular request, this chapter is over 3 times the length of the first. Enjoy!**

After Merlin left Arthur's chambers, he stood out side in the hallway for a moment, deciding which way to go. His loud breathing and fuzzy mind prevented him from hearing the clicking footsteps until someone tapped him on the shoulder. Merlin whirled around quickly and tripped over his own feet. He would have fallen if a firm hand had not grabbed the neck of his shirt and pulled him up.

"Thanks- Oh." Merlin stopped abruptly when he saw it was Lord Aggravaine who had stopped him from falling. "Thank you, my lord."

"Anytime Merlin, anytime." Aggravaine smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. Merlin wondered why no one else ever realised. He clapped Merlin on the back and laughed, as if sharing some private joke, so Merlin laughed too, hoping it sounded genuine. "Where are you going? Aren't you meant to be serving Arthur?"

"Arthur said to-" Merlin paused and tried to think of something before the moment grew suspiciously long. "Take the day off." There. Perfect. It wasn't a lie anyway, so if Aggravaine said something about him having the day off, Arthur wouldn't think twice about it.

"Excellent." Another false smile. "What were you planning on doing?"

Of course, he wanted to know. If Merlin was far enough away, Aggravaine might be able to get away with something he would not be able to do with Merlin in the room. Merlin needed to think of something close by, not suspicious, and with nothing to do with Gaius. "I'm going to go to the- tavern." No, NO! What was his mouth doing? Why would he say that? "Maybe have some mead on my- day off."

"Oh." Aggravaine said. Merlin could see his eyebrows twist upwards in slight surprise. "Enjoy yourself then."

"I. I will." Merlin started to leave, inwardly kicking himself.

"Oh, and Merlin?" Merlin turned back to face Aggravaine. "Perhaps you should catch up on your sleep. You look terrible."

"Yes. Of- Of course. Sire." Merlin stuttered and left. If Aggravaine had noticed, maybe he really was worse than he thought. After all, how many times does someone who'd probably rather see you dead tell you look ill? He needed a place to rest. Somewhere he could lie down without anyone noticing, not Arthur or Gaius or the knights.

Perhaps Morgana's old chambers. No one used them, no one ever even went inside those rooms. It had clean blankets on the bed, Arthur tried to act as though it were any other guest chamber. And Merlin could deal with the dust and cobwebs that resulted from never being cleaned if it meant a good nap. That's where he'd go then.

After the second flight of stairs, Merlin felt himself tiring. His muscles ached and he was fighting to keep his eyes open. But he was almost there. Just one. More. Step.

* * *

Gwaine was not having the best of days. Most days were not the best of days for Gwaine, but this number had reduced slightly since coming to Camelot. Today, however was not the best of days.

For one thing, he had went to the tavern in the morning, but according to the bartender he hadn't "paid" or something ridiculous like that. So he wasn't allowed any mead, beer, or other alcoholic substance in the building. He had taken so long arguing with the bartender over this that he completely forgot about Arthur's morning practice. So Percival had to come get him, and he's not exactly the talkative type. When they finally got to practice, Arthur was angry and made Gwaine run laps the entire time. The ENTIRE time. Arthur's morning practices were two hours long. Sure, he had gotten there about an hour late, but still, he deserved a break. Surely there was a tankard of mead somewhere in his chambers. Perhaps under the bed-

"Hey!" Gwaine shouted. He could see a collapsed figure at he bottom of the stairs. It looked like- but it couldn't be- "Merlin!" he called, and raced down the stairs to his unconscious friend's side. "Merlin, can you hear me? Wake up. Wake up!"

Merlin moaned softly, and Gwaine let out a sigh of relief. He held Merlin for a moment and then stood, hooking his arms under the boy's as to drag him back up the stairs.

"Hold on Merlin." Gwaine assured him, although he wasn't sure if he could hear him or not. "I'm going to get you to Gaius."

At this, Merlin moaned again, louder, and started to fight Gwaine. Semi-conscious and with a bleeding head wound, Merlin threw himself back and forth in the knight's grip, resisting as well as he could.

"Shh, shh." Gwaine tried to calm him, but Merlin would not stop his desperate moves to get away. "It's alright. I'm taking you to Gaius. You're okay."

At this, Merlin only fought harder. He must have been out of it, then. Perhaps he thought he was in some kind of danger, or didn't realise he was still in Camelot. Gwaine knew Merlin sometimes had nightmares, he had heard the boy talking in his sleep on various patrols and hunting trips. Maybe, in his wounded state, his dreams had become a reality.

"Up you get." Gwaine groaned at Merlin's weight. The boy was skinny, but lugging his fighting form up the stairs was still difficult. "Hey!" Gwaine cried, knowing that there should be guards close by. "Hey!" This time he heard clinking, and pushed forward with a sense of relief. A few moments later, Merlin was being lifted out of his arms and carried up the rest of the way by two buff looking men.

Gwaine paused for a moment to breathe and then ran to catch up with them. "Take him to Gaius's chambers." he directed, and then realised that these men probably had no idea who Gaius was, or where his chambers were. "The court physician." he explained. "That way."

The guards followed his pointed finger without remark. Gwaine could see they were holding Merlin quite firmly, but he couldn't really protest. With the way he was wriggling around in their hold, Gwaine knew that if the guards loosened they're grip they would drop him.

"It's alright." Gwaine soothed from the side. "Everything's going to be fine, just as soon as we get you to Gaius."

For some reason, this only made the boy fight harder.

* * *

"King Arthur!" The squire pushed open the door without bothering to knock. Gwen was looking at papers with Arthur, and one of his arms was wrapped around her waist. Their eyes snapped up at him, and the boy realised his mistakes. "M'sorry." he mumbled, embarrassed. "My lord. I'll come back."

"No, of course not." Arthur wasn't annoyed. He had grown far too used to being barged in on since Merlin had become his manservant. Far too used to it, now that he thought about it. "What is it?"

The squire swallowed, sweat pouring off of him both from running the distance of the castle and nerves. The king would not be happy about this news. "It's about Merlin, sire. Your manservant."

"Yes?" Arthur jumped up off of his chair, practically running over to the shaking boy. Gwen stood just behind him. "What is it?" Had Merlin's illness worsened? It had looked like just another cold, albeit a bad one. Nothing that some sleep and a day off couldn't cure. That's why Arthur had relieved him for the day. What had his manservant gotten himself into? "Is he okay?" Arthur asked, hating the fear that was so prominent in his voice.

"He- he fell." The squire informed him curtly. "Down a flight of stairs."

"WHAT?"Arthur screamed, and shoved the boy up against his wall, not caring that it wasn't his fault, or that he was being to rough. "What did you say?" he demanded.

"He fell, sire." the boy was crying, scared to death of Arthur in the way servants used to fear his father.

Arthur quickly released him.

"I'm sorry," he apologised, his voice rough. "I'm sorry. What's your name?" Arthur asked, feeling like he might just through up all over the sniveling boy.

"Ashton." the squire whispered. He rubbed at his shoulder, still sobbing despite his clear attempts to try and stop.

"I'm sorry, Ashton." Arthur tried to keep himself calm. "Could you tell me what happened to Merlin?"

"He fell down a-"

"I know." Arthur interrupted, and then mentally kicked himself. Ashton shrunk down lower, expecting to be beaten, or worse. "I know." Arthur said again, softer this time. "How is he?"

For a moment Ashton just stared up at him, and Arthur had to wonder if he had heard the question. Just as he was about to repeat himself, the squire looked up at him.

"You better go see Gaius." the boy said weakly. Arthur was out of the door in a heart beat.

"Hey." Gwen said kindly. "Ashton, isn't it?" he nodded, still petrified. She helped him into a chair, he was clearly in shock. "It's okay. He'll be alright."

Ashton just shook his head. "I saw him. He won't be alright."

Gwen frowned. "I meant Arthur." she explained.

"So did I."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello Everyone! Thank you so much for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing! I hope you're all enjoying.**

**Did you hear about that new scientific study? Yeah, apparently people who review fanfictions (such as this one) lead happier, more successful lives. The only way for you to find out for sure is to review!**

"WELL?" Arthur shouted, smashing open the door to Gaius's chamber. He took a moment to breathe, (he had just run the length of half the castle) before clarifying his question. "How is he?"

Gaius was hunched over Merlin's form, but Arthur strode over and pushed him out of the way without a second thought. His only concern was for his hurt manservant, and so he missed the angry glare Gaius shot at him behind his back.

"What's wrong with him?" Arthur asked, brushing some of the hair out of Merlin's face. It was a daft question, he knew that. His dark haired friend was lying on the bed, a heavy bandage wrapped around his head and one arm in a sling. When he sat down, Arthur could feel more bandages through the blankets, and concluded that Merlin must have fractured or broken his ribs.

"He fell down the stairs." Gaius said, and Arthur turned to face him. Something was strange about the way Gaius spoke, and they both realised at the same time. "Sire." the old physician added, but that wasn't it.

"I know. What are his injuries?"

"Three broken ribs." Gwaine said from the corner, causing Arthur to jump. He hadn't seen the knight, who was leaning against a wall, shadows crossing his dark face. "We won't know if he has a concussion until he wakes up, and probably a broken arm. The swelling's too bad to tell right now."

"Mmm..." Merlin mumbled, his eyes still closed, and Arthur knelt down to listen. "No. No, Gaius, no. Trmph..."

His already muffled words were cut off when Gaius shoved a small glass phial into his mouth, forcing Merlin to swallow. The injured boy started to thrash, but the sedative started working before Arthur could hold him down.

"What was that?" the King of Camelot demanded. Gaius corked the now empty bottle calmly.

"A strong sleeping draft."

"Why?" Gwaine asked, finally coming away from the corner. "Surely it's a good sign that Merlin's coherent."

Gaius sighed. "I'm afraid not, Sir Gwaine." Said knight's eyebrows raised a fraction, but no one saw. "Merlin was simply experiencing- a symptom of mental injury. All we can do for him now is try and make sure he gets as much rest as he can. It will help him marginally."

Arthur nodded, trying to look certain. "How can we help him with this, Gaius?"

The old man pulled over a chair and sat down. "It will be difficult." he began. "We will most likely have to keep him drugged to sleep at all. When he does awaken more, he may appear to be normal, uninjured, but we must keep in mind that he is still wounded. Merlin may be paranoid, or delusional. It is vital for us to remember: he is not well. It may be a while, Sire."

"I understand." Arthur stayed quiet for a moment before touching Merlin's forehead. "He's burning up!" he shouted.

"I know." Gaius patted him on the shoulder. "I was cooling him down when you came in. But it's strange, the fever does not seem to be resulting of his injuries."

"Oh, yes." The royal felt a little stupid at not mentioning it earlier. "Merlin showed up to work with a cough and a fever. I told him to go rest. He must have fallen on his way back to bed." Arthur noticed Gwaine's frown, but said nothing.

"I'll give him something to help fight the cold, then." Gaius started to bustle around his space. "Though it doesn't sound much worse than a common cold."

"No, I don't think so." Arthur said, taking the cool cloth from Gaius and patting it on his manservant's head. "I don't think so."

Arthur left shortly after that to take out his anger on the practice dummy in the training field. He sat through a court meeting on why taxes should be raised, all the while thinking of his injured manservant. Gwen didn't say anything about him skipping lunch, but made him attend dinner, although he mostly pushed the food on his plate around.

* * *

"Oh, come on then." Gwen said, after watching her husband pile his beans onto his meat and then scraping the beans off only to push the meat onto his beans for the third time.

"What?" Arthur pulled himself out of his thoughts too late, and couldn't tell what his wife had said.

"Put down your fork." Gwen ordered kindly. She pushed back her chair and sat up. "We're going to visit Merlin."

Arthur leaped up and practically ran the entire distance, pausing only when Guinevere called to him to slow. She tried to run too, but the shoes meant for the female royals was simply not accommodating for jogging through crowded corridors. In a longer time than Arthur would have liked, they were in sight of the old wooden door that was the entrance to the physician's chambers, hand in hand.

"Ah, Guinevere." Gaius said, straightening up. Percival and Leon were sitting by Merlin, talking to him soothingly. "Back so soon?"

Arthur looked over at his wife, question in his eyes. "I was here helping Gaius earlier." she explained. "Just keeping Merlin cool and such."

"How is he?" Arthur asked, turning to Gaius and dismissing his conversation with Gwen.

"Better." Gaius nodded. "I've brought his fever down quite a bit. I'm still worried about his head injury though. He awoke once and was completely delirious. Just to warn you, sire."

"Could we, uh." Arthur cleared his throat. "Could we have a moment?" he asked. Percival and Elyan left, closely followed by Gwen. Gaius however, showed no sign of movement. "Please." he added.

"I don't know, sire." Gaius sighed, twisting his hands. "I don't want to be gone if something happens."

"Nothing will happen." Arthur assured him. "And you won't go to far."

Gaius looked as if he was about to speak, but then shook his head and left Merlin and Arthur alone.

"Hey there." the king said softly. He sat down in the chair Percival had been occupying only moments ago and took Merlin's hand in his own. "Get better. Get better, please, Merlin." Then, just in case the idiot was semi conscious, he added, "So you can wash my socks. I'm running out and you've only been hurt since morning." Arthur tried to laugh, but it sounded suspiciously like he was about to start sobbing.

"Arth- ur." Merlin breathed slowly. "Arthur."

"Yes!" Arthur jumped up and his chair fell backwards. "Yes, yes, it's me, Merlin. It's me."

"Arthur." the boy said again, clearer this time, but still so soft that said king had to kneel down next to him to hear. "Get me- get me out. Please. Please."

Arthur pulled away at this strange turn. Merlin sounded truly hurt, like someone was stabbing a knife into him and turning it slowly. He realised there were tears pouring down his manservant's face. Tear_s_. Merlin was practically sobbing.

"Merlin, I don't- I don't understand." Arthur tried to soothe him. "Why would you want to leave? You're safe here. We're in Camelot. You fell down some stairs. Gaius is treating you for a concussion." he tried to make Merlin understand.

"No. No!" his eyes flashed open, the tears making them reflect off the dim candle light. "Please, Arthur." he begged, and grabbed Arthur's arm so tightly it hurt. "Take me away from here. Far."

"Why?" he asked, frowning.

"It's Gaius." Merlin whispered. "I don't think Gaius is. He isn't." Merlin stuttered, finding it difficult to breathe through the tears. "Gaius isn't what-"

"Sire!" The physician shouted, bursting through the doors. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine." Arthur waved him off, trying to conceal Merlin's flailing form. "Leave us."

Gaius saw through the facade. "I really don't think that would be wise, sire. Merlin needs rest, not excitement. I thought I made that clear this morning."

"Get away!"

The old man sighed. "Now look, sire. I warned you he would be delusional." He uncorked a small bottle on the table and slowly approached Merlin. "It's okay, my boy. I am trying to make you well again."

"No. No."

"Arthur, will you hold him still for me?" Gaius asked. The monarch just looked at him, unsure of what to do. "Very well." Gaius moved around Arthur, shoved Merlin's weakly struggling form back against the bed, and tipped the bottle into the boy's mouth, who had no choice but to swallow. "See what you've made me do?" the old physician said to the king, walking away to set the phial with a group of empty ones that needed washing.

Merlin lay back, his eyelids fluttering slightly.

"Merlin?" Arthur asked, hating how small his voice sounded.

Before Arthur could move away, the pale boy had leapt up, looping his arms around the king's neck and pulling him down. Gaius was standing over them in a heartbeat, trying to pull the sick boy away.

"Don't trust him, Arthur." Merlin murmured into his ear. "Just- don't."

Arthur had no doubt who "he" was.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you all for the great response to the last chapter! I loved hearing your theories about what happened to Gaius. No one has guessed correctly yet, so why not try again? **

**I'd say that I do own Merlin, but that would be a lie. Some day, world. Some day...**

**I was reading a newspaper earlier today, and it seems there's this deadly virus travelling around. People catch it and die 6 hours later. Don't despair, scientists have discovered a cure: reviewing fanfiction. This looks like a good one to try it out...**

Arthur pushed the papers away and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on. It was in the early stages, but as the leader of a great nation, he knew what a headache felt like.

"Oh god, Merlin." Arthur said, speaking to his absent manservant. "What am I going to do with you?"

Give me the day off, that annoying Merlin sounding voice in the back of his mind nagged.

"Shut up, Merlin." Great. Now he was talking to himself.

To be honest, Arthur did miss the ceaseless prattle of his manservant. Because Merlin really never did shut up. He would mumble stories to himself while he cleaned, and from the bits Arthur heard, they were almost all fables about a good wizard who was on a mission to rescue some wayward noble. Arthur guessed that they were tales that his mother had told him, because no nursery tale contained a good wizard since magic had been outlawed, at least a year before Merlin's birth.

Sometimes when he was in a bad mood, Arthur would tell Merlin to shut up, really meaning it because he had another one of those god awful headaches. And the boy was smart enough to know he should heed his master's words, so he would stop the mumbling for several minutes before starting to hum.

Yes, Arthur was missing the lack of silence.

Don't trust him. Those were the words Merlin had chosen to use his last bit of strength to hiss in Arthur's ear before flopping back on the bed, unconscious. Don't trust him.

At first, Arthur had thought Merlin meant Gaius. He had been sure of it. The injured boy had crying, begging Arthur to take him away, that Gaius wasn't something. What did he think was wrong with Gaius? The answer hit Arthur like a bag of bricks.

Merlin thought he was going to die.

It was clear now that he realised it. When the stomach flu had spread like wildfire last November, Arthur had climbed out of bed to go find his _useless _servant who hadn't even bothered to show up, and instead found him arguing with Gaius in the physician's chambers, yelling that Gaius should rest and let Merlin cure everyone. He'd said that if Gaius caught the sickness he wouldn't be strong enough to fight it off.

Merlin believed that if he died, the old physician would lose the will to live and fall into depression. But if he left Camelot and never returned, Gaius would know why, and they would have the same problem. And why would that mean that Arthur shouldn't trust Gaius?

The physician had said it himself: Merlin had hit his head and was delusional. There was nothing wrong, no danger and no one untrustworthy, he was imagining it. Just imagining it.

But the way the boy had looked up at him, there was utter fear in his eyes. And when Merlin was begging Arthur to take him far away, he meant it. Merlin truly thought there was some form of danger in Camelot, and wanted Arthur to take him away.

Trust Merlin to try and save his own skin before anyone else's.

A knock on the door drew Arthur out of his thoughts.

"Come in." he called. The door opened, and the familiar form entered. "Ah, Uncle." Arthur greeted. He stood up to offer his own chair, but the darkly dressed man waved him off, choosing to stand, so Arthur rose as well.

"Arthur." Agravaine nodded to him. "I take it you've heard the news of your servant." The king looked down at his papers, answer written all over his face. "I'm truly sorry."

"Thank you." Arthur tried to hide the emotion that was just trembling to get out. "I take it you didn't just come speak about my injured manservant, Agravaine?"

"Unfortunately, no." The darkly dressed man was all business. "If you remember, Morgana is cropping up more and more followers."

"Mercenaries." he waved his hand. "They are just paid labor."

"I'm not so sure, my lord." Agravaine paused for a moment to choose his words carefully. "We've been receiving more reports. She's becoming less cautious, sending her men out deeper into Camelot, and they do seem ready to die for her."

"What?" Arthur asked, standing up. "They're what?"

"Mercenaries are soldiers for hire." Agravaine agreed. "But they will usually do whatever is necessary to save their own skin at the end of the battle. But these men are fighting to the death. A patrol on the outskirts of the kingdom captured a raid, and they made no plead."

"No- what?" Arthur asked, unbelieving of what he was saying. "Why are they so loyal? Is Morgana using some sort of magical instrument." he tried to ignore the pain in his chest that came with her name.

"I'm afraid I don't know." Agravaine shrugged. "I will take my leave now. I am truly sorry about your manservant, Arthur."

"Thank you." he took his uncle's hand, shaking it firmly. Leave it to Merlin to get injured on his day off."

"Sounds like he would have injured himself anyway." Agravaine joked, trying to lighten the mood. He started to open up the door, leaving Arthur to think about his words.

"Wait!" the young king shouted, running after his uncle. "What did you say?"

"Morgana is sending her men deeper into-"

"No, no, after that. About Merlin. Just before you left."

"Ah, yes." Agravaine nodded, looking at Arthur strangely. "That he would have probably injured himself anyway. I've heard that he spends a lot of time in the tavern."

Arthur glared. "Merlin was going home to get some rest. What makes you think he was going to the tavern?"

"He- he said so himself." Agravaine looked slightly scared, causing Arthur to wonder exactly what expression his face was making. "I saw him outside out your chambers this morning. The boy said you had given him the day off, and that he was going to the tavern for a drink."

"Fie!" Arthur shouted, stomping his foot like he was a child. A passing servant gave him a strange look and departed. "I'm sorry, Uncle." he nodded to the darker dressed man. "Forgive me. But I have just found out that my manservant injured himself on his way to the tavern when I told him specifically to get some REST!" His voice grew increasing louder, until he was shouting.

Arthur threw open the door and ran down the hallway, not caring how un-kingly he must have looked. He could feel the eyes of his uncle follow him, and Arthur found himself wondering why he suddenly felt so very cold.

* * *

Gwaine smashed the wooden training sword into the post again and again, the clanging noise that resulted soothing him deeper into his trance. Somewhere deep within him, Gwaine knew that the other knights were all staring, but he couldn't bring himself to bother. His elbows were sticking straight out, something Arthur constantly berated him for in practice, but the normally fun knight didn't have the strength to try to fix his own form. He was close to collapsing in a puddle of his own sweat and tears, and he knew it.

"Gwaine!" Arthur shouted, running over to him. "What the hell are you doing?"

Gwaine pulled himself out his state and looked down, realising his practice sword was in pieces around him, and that the post was in no better state.

"Training." the knight spat out. His voice sounded hoarse and rough in his own ears.

"I can bloody well see that." Arthur rolled his eyes. "I think that's enough sword work today."

Gwaine was not ready to stop. "I'll work with the squires for a bit." he proposed.

"You'll do no such thing." The tone was commanding, and Arthur seemed to notice, sighing before continuing again in a softer voice. "I don't want you to break the trainees. Gaius is busy enough as it is."

"I'm aware." Gwaine said curtly. "I won't be too hard on them. I promise."

"Yes, and that hilt in your hand is a testament to it." the knight glanced down at the shaft of wood in his hand that had previously resembled a sword. "You've been out here long enough." Arthur continued. "Take a break."

"Not yet."

"Gwaine, you've been done here pounding away at that post since dawn."

"Yes," Gwaine answered, wondering what he was getting at.

"It's almost noon."

Gwaine threw his head up to look at the sky, and saw that indeed, the sun was directly above them. It had seemed like such a short time too. Before Arthur had spoken, Gwaine would have guessed less than an hour. How could he lose track of time like that?

Arthur sighed. "Come in, Gwaine. Have lunch with me."

"No, thank you. Sire." He added the bit at the end, just to show Arthur how upset he was. It was never "sire" with the king. Arthur took a step back as if Gwaine had hit him.

"Have I done something to anger you, Sir Knight?" Arthur replied in the same manner.

"No, no." Gwaine regretted his words. He moved to lean on his sword, forgetting it was broken, and almost crashed to the ground before Arthur pulled him back up. "I'm sorry." he apologised. "I'm not angry with you. I'm just worried about Merlin."

Arthur pursed his lips. "So am I. Though marginally less than I was yesterday."

"What do you mean? Is he better?" Gwaine pounced on his words, and Arthur felt bad for giving him false hope.

"No, I don't know." Arthur rubbed his forehead. Yes, definitely a headache. "I just- Agravaine just told me that he saw Merlin before the injury. I had given Merlin the day off, because he looked positively ill, and now I've discovered that Merlin was on his way to the tavern instead of bed."

"What?" Gwaine asked, looking at Arthur like he was crazy. "Merlin hates drinking. I've only convinced him to come to the tavern twice. And he didn't even finish the mug both times."

"You're kidding." the king just shook his head. "I think we're talking about a different Merlin. Do you know how many times I've gone off looking for him to find out he went to the tavern?"

"Not the Rising Sun, mate." Gwaine clapped him on the back and started to walk away, ignoring the splintered pieces of wood on the ground around him. Arthur turned to follow. "I've spent days straight in there, and I've never seen Merlin once."

He thought the days straight thing might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it still bothered Arthur that Gwaine wouldn't have ever seen Merlin. Well, he was probably pretty drunk most of the time, but he would remember seeing that dopey-eared idiot, wouldn't he?

Wouldn't he?

* * *

Merlin had a headache. It was pounding in his ears, making thoughts, well, unthinkable. He could feel his teeth rattling on the inside of his mouth. A cold hand pressed itself against Merlin's forehead, and he moaned, not in control of his own mouth. The hand withdrew, causing him to moan again, and a harsh voice answered.

"Awaken."

Although everything in him was screaming no, Merlin forced his eyes open, and then immediately closed them again.

"Too late now." the stiff voice coaxed. "I know you're awake, Merlin."

Merlin sighed and opened his eyes. Gaius stood over him, looking so normal in his deep tan robes, sitting on the edge of the bed in the same manner he did with all of his patients. But there was something different, something that Merlin had known was wrong for over a week, and yet refused to say anything.

He now wished he had.

Because this? This wasn't even the worst trouble the young warlock had gotten himself into. But it most certainly was the stupidest.

This entire catastrophe could have been avoided with a few words. _Arthur, can I sleep in some of the guest chambers for a bit? Gaius and I had a falling out._

The end. Merlin could have went and slept in a real bed, and he wouldn't have to wander around the castle corridors all night sleeping uncomfortably, slumped against cold stone walls, hoping someone wouldn't find him and ask him what in the name of Camelot was he doing. Maybe it wouldn't put off his Gaius problem forever (he did live with the man), but at least it would give him a chance to find out what was wrong with the once kind old man.

And that was the problem, wasn't it? Merlin had no idea what was wrong. And if he didn't know what was wrong, he couldn't fix it.

"Ah, Merlin." Gaius smiled at him as he wiped the crust that formed at the edge of his eyes off. "How are you feeling? My boy." he added after a moment's hesitation.

"You don't have to pretend." Merlin was tired, not feeling well, and he didn't want to put up with nonsense. "I know it's not really you."

The old physician sighed. "That facade was short lived."

"It was never lived at all." Merlin tried to sit up, and pain shot through his arm. "What've you done with Gaius? I assume it's some sort of body swap? He's in yours, some strange bandit stuck wondering around the woods?"

"Wrong."

"So not a bandit then?" he was tired, and in no mood to play games. "An enemy of Camelot."

"Corrrect, in ways you might not expect."

"Is this a guessing game now?" Merlin tilted his head back to stretch out his neck. "I'll just keep guessing until I get it right?"

"No." not-Gaius stood up quickly, stepping away from his injured ward. "Though I will tell you something: stay out of my way."

"Why?" he complained. "It's so much more fun when I fight."

"That may be true." the physician raised one eyebrow, and Merlin turned away to hide the hurt. "Any more whispers to your dear prince, any hints left around, and you may just suffer a mental relapse. I, being the kindly old physician I am, will take care of you, give you the medicine you need to be well again. But my vision is getting a little rough around the edges in my old age, wouldn't it be terrible if I administered a poison by accident?"

Merlin gulped.

"And just remember," the old man whispered into his ear, although there was no one around to hear. "Gaius is safe now, but he very well may not stay that way."

**A/N: No, there was not a body switch. Evil Gaius is just good at tricking people. There is a reason for his sudden evil-ness though, and I want to know what you think it is!**

**Save yourself from the disease! Review! (And get your friends to review too, it's the only way to make sure they stay safe!)**


	5. Chapter 5

Merlin tried to push open the door as best he could with one arm tied against his side, but was getting nowhere. He closed his eyes to try and focus, but the door remained stuck.

"_You're quite sure he's alright to come back to work?"Arthur was talking to Gaius as if Merlin wasn't even there. Yesterday. Last night? Had the discussion really happened so recently? It felt like years._

"_Yes, sire. Light work, of course, but I feel that getting back into his normal routine will be better for him than sitting around here all day. He's ready for this." Gaius answered expertly, and Merlin felt his heart pang._

"_It's just, he doesn't look- natural." Arthur had said after a pause, glancing up over at Merlin, who was lying in Gaius's bed, pushed into the corner. His eyes were wide open, seeing and hearing everything, but the warlock couldn't bring himself to make a noise. How could he protect Arthur like this? How could he work like this, Merlin wasn't even sure if he could walk. Was Gaius crazy?_

"_Once we get him up and around, he should be fine. This will be good for him, sire." Gaius had his back to Merlin, who was trying desperately to scream for Arthur to get out, to run away. But his body wasn't responding to his commands, and his mouth wouldn't form the words. "Be aware, while Merlin appears to be getting better, his head wound could be tricking us. At any moment he could relapse, believing things that aren't true." Gaius turned over to face Merlin, who tried to shrink away from whatever had changed his guardian. "For a while there he believed me to be evil."_

"_I'm sorry, Gaius." Arthur took the old man by the shoulder and pulled him into a sort of a hug. "That must have been difficult."_

"_Yes, it was." Gaius nodded his thanks. "Although I think I managed to get through to him." The physician, once Merlin's most trusted, who knew secrets no one else knew, smiled at the injured boy lying frozen on his bed, lies all over his face. "I don't think he'll be saying anything else about it though. He knows the consequences his words will have."_

Gaius had him trapped from every direction, and Merlin hated that. He could not tell Arthur about the changes in the old man's usual protective behavior, and if he did, no one would believe him. They would all think he was just suffering from his head wound. Which wasn't even that bad.

The door would still not open. Merlin was trying to bring Arthur's laundry up to his room, while the king was overseeing the training of some of the newer knights in the courtyard with a servant that could actually hold up a shield and take a hit. It did hurt a little, to be replaced so easily, and Merlin felt the worry that overcame him every time Arthur used a different servant: would his friend decide the replacement was better, and fire him? Merlin knew he wouldn't, but he worried each time.

Why wouldn't the door open? Was it locked? No, Arthur never locked his door, why would he now? Could the door be stuck on something? It didn't appear to be. Merlin pushed at it harder.

Gaius could kill him, he realized at that moment. Gaius would kill him. And then Arthur. And then Gwen. And then Gwaine, and Percival, and Leon, and everyone else Merlin holds most dear. And he would do it for entertainment.

Merlin screamed out in frusturation, dropping the laundry and slamming into the door with his good side. He backed up and ran at the barrier again, and then again, and at some point he was vaguely aware of the tears streaming down his face but didn't care, wouldn't care, couldn't care.

"AUGH!" he screamed out, shoulder throbbing from where it had been repetitively hurt. The door still stood, refusing to move as one last move of rebellion. Merlin crumpled up against the wall and slid to the ground. With the arm that wasn't bound to his side, he beat at the door, knowing the battle was lost.

"Merlin?" Arthur's voice surprised him, and Merlin looked up before remembering there were tears on his face. "What's wrong?"

The boy wiped his face on the scarf that hung around his neck before standing. Without looking at Arthur, he bent down to pick up the laundry. Arthur opened the door and let him in without making a remark.

Merlin didn't say a word for the rest of the day, but Arthur heard more than he had in a long time.

* * *

Agravaine stood outside the door to the physician's chambers, and after a moment's hesitation, he lifted his arm and knocked loudly.

"Ah, Agravaine." Gaius welcomed him in, and the darkly dressed man couldn't help but realize that Gaius had never been this welcoming to him, especially after his interrogation. In fact, Agravaine couldn't help but suspect that the old man had known it was him behind the kidnapping. "What can I do for you today?"

"I just came to see how your ward is doing. Merlin, isn't it?"

Gaius's eyes narrowed. Everyone in court knew Merlin, he was never absent from Arthur's side. Agravaine backtracked quickly.

"It was Merlin that was injured, correct?" he asked. Gaius nodded, but the glare remained. Agravaine couldn't help but feel like he was a mouse being watched by an intent snake. "And how is he?" he swallowed the fear that was creeping up his throat.

"Fine."

"Good." Agravaine licked his top lip nervously. "Glad to hear. I'll- be going then."

"Agravaine." The coldness in the man's voice made him stop and turn. Gaius stood in the center of the room, hands crossed calmly. "I'd like to speak with you, if you would."

Agravaine nodded and sat down in the chair Gaius had pulled out for him, ignoring the turning in his stomach. Why was he so afraid?

"I need to speak with Morgana." The old man concluded, getting straight to the point.

Agravaine flinched visibly. "I- I'm afraid I don't know. Where to find. Morgana." He had to force the name out.

Gaius sighed, rolling his eyes. "Stop pretending, Agravaine. We both know you're a traitor to the crown. Now tell me, _where is she?_"

She was going to kill him. Morgana was going to kill him, and it was going to be slow, and painful, and-

"Why?" he managed to choke out.

"Because," Gaius started, and something about him made Agravaine want to cry and scream and throw himself off the tallest tower. "I think we may be able to find some common ground."

**A/N: I hope you liked it. Please, please review, it takes a moment and makes me so happy! **

**I will be very busy for the next month, but I'm very inspired for the next few chapters, so I'll try to get them out sooner rather than later. Let me know what you think, what you like, what you don't like, what you want to happen. I love hearing from you all.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Here we are again! How are you liking this speedy update-ness? I still haven't gotten a correct guess as to why Gaius is evil, and whoever guesses correctly gets a prize! (Probably a mention in the next Author's Note. Or a virtual milkshake. Or both.) **

**The nice doctors here tell me I don't own Merlin. (But we all know they're CRAZY.)**

**This device (computer, tablet, phone) is set to explode in 23 minutes. The only way to stop it? By reviewing. You have 23 minutes to read this chapter and tell me what you think, or BOOM!**

"There's something wrong with Merlin." Arthur started out the meeting with five simple words, five words he knew would tell his most trusted knights that this was more important than the usual bandits-in-the-woods, taxes-are-too-low/high.

"Yeah, we know." Gwaine nodded. "He fell down a flight of stairs."

"No- not that." Arthur had to pause to piece his thoughts back together. "He's been distant. Quiet. Not like himself." The knights shifted uncomfortably, making him want to take them by their shoulders and shake them until they told him what they were all clearly thinking. "Yes?"

Leon spoke up first. "Gaius did say there may be changes in behavior, Sire. And I'm sure they boy is in quite a bit of pain."

"Pain? Why would he be in pain?" the lighthaired man swept some of his hair out of his face before continuing. "Hasn't Gaius given him something?"

"No, Sire." Leon shook his head.

"We thought you knew." Elyan frowned. "Percival was on his way to visit Merlin and heard him and Gaius arguing over it. Gaius wanted him to take something, and Merlin refused. Said he'd rather bear through the pain than take something from Gaius."

"That's unlike him." Arthur scratched at his chin. "Not the bearing through the pain thing, that has Merlin written all over it. It's like the idiot likes to get himself hurt." He thought back to what his previous point had been. "He said he'd rather bear through the pain than take something from Gaius?"

"He kind of- shouted it." Percival said quietly. "Like he was angry. Merlin sounded-" he bit at his lip before continuing. "Merlin sounded like he was speaking to an enemy. Like he was speaking with hatred behind his words."

Gwaine took a literal step away from Percival, as if standing too close would burn him.

"Merlin?" he asked dumbfounded. "Merlin, Arthur's idiot? Sweet, funny Merlin? He wears a little red neckerchief? Usually a blue shirt, but sometimes-"

"I know Merlin." the usually quiet knight interrupted Gwaine. "And there was no compassion in his voice."

"But he was speaking with Gaius." Leon stated, looking from Percival to Arthur confusedly. "Merlin loves Gaius like a father."

"Was there anything else?" Arthur asked Percival. "Did you overhear anything else?"

The large knight gulped nervously. "After Merlin told Gaius he wouldn't take the medicine, Gaius told him to sit and eat breakfast. Merlin said he wasn't hungry, and then." Percival cut off abruptly, and the others waited for him to continue. After several moments, he shook his head and looked down at the floor, not daring to finish.

"Percival." Elyan looked up at him gently. "What happened next?"

"There was a- scuffling noise." Percival said sometime later. "Merlin came running out, he didn't see me. I-" He had to stop and turned away from the other knights to contain himself. When he turned around, his eyes were slightly red, and Arthur felt his stomach turn over in worry at what the knight would say next.

"I think Gaius hit him."

No one quite knew what to say to that.

* * *

The old man clutched onto a tree for support. He was panting quite heavily, breath coming in shallow gasps, and the fact that the ground beneath his feet was full of obstacles just waiting to trip him didn't help very much either.

"Gaius…What are you doing here?" the darkly dressed woman stepped out from behind a thick tree. A piece of her sleeve caught on a branch and tore, but it was in no better shape than the rest of her dress.

"Morgana." The old man bowed his head respectively. "Exile has been treating you well."

She snorted out a bit of laughter and brushed back her tangled hair. A mirror had not been placed in front of her in a long time, but she knew how she must have looked. Her hands, once pale and beautiful, were covered in the scars of physical work, and her royal tailored dress hang in tatters around her, staying on only because of the pins she had used to pull it together.

"Flattery does not suit you, old man," she spat. "Now tell me what you arranged this meeting for, or your death will be a painful one. How close I came to killing Agravaine when he informed me he had been discovered."

"Oh yes, please do." The man straightened and released his supporting hold on the branch. Her eyes narrowed, asking the silent question. "Kill him. I would have done it ages ago if he hadn't been my only way to contact you."

"What are you saying?" she asked him. After being alone for so long, the high priestess had grown out of touch in masking her emotions, and the old man could see the fear darting just behind her eyes.

"Agravaine. I'd like to kill him. If it wouldn't anger you, my lady." He swept into a low bow, ignoring the creaking feeling in his bones.

"Do I sense a change of sides?" she inquired. The old man nodded, and the darkly dressed woman smirked, a familiar feeling of relief washing over her. "And what would make me believe you are loyal, that this is not just some sort of trick?"

He tilted his head to one side, and she felt a sort of sickness pass through her. "What sort of prize could I bring you to prove my loyalty, my lady? Your brother's head on a post? Or perhaps, the queen's?"

"That churlis* whelp!" the woman shouted tilting her head up towards the sky. "An ill-bred, on my throne." Droplets began to release from the clouds, refusing to soak into her unwashed hair. "I'll see her dead, along with my fool of a brother. DEAD!" she screamed, and the old man found himself unable to distinguish the rain from her tears. "Look what they did to me, look what my friends did. Those villains, those liars. They have killed me, more than once now."

She wasn't quite aware of what happened next, but the first thing she was sure of was the old man holding her, stroking her hair out of her face, and whispering to her. The rain stopped slowly as the crying woman returned to calaminity**.

"Sh, sh, it's alright," he soothed her. "It's alright, you're going to be okay."

"How?" she asked, looking up at him. He could see fear and confusion in her eyes, along with uncertainty of the future. For a moment, he could see the little girl she had once been, the girl who came to Camelot with wide eyes after her father's death, the girl who played with Arthur, the girl who longed to go on adventures and fight with swords, but at the end of the day would come inside and put on fancy dresses, marveling at the sparkling jewelry that was gifted to her.

"Because," the old man began, squeezing her tight and helping her up. "I'm going to help you."

When she was on steady feet again, he took her hand and helped her walk through the dark forest, pausing and turning when she ordered a change of direction in week voice. He obliged, holding her up each time she started to fall.

"There there." he comforted her, patting her shoulder. The contact sent tingles down her spine. "I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you."

The hidden boy had to choke off the noise of his sobs into his neckerchief. He was falling apart.

Save Arthur.

***churlis: low born**

****calaminity: the state of being calm**

**A/N: Thank you for reading! Please, please tell me what you think. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear from you. (Also, if you don't, you're about to be caught in a mass explosion.)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Happy Camp NaNo, everyone! Let me know if you're doing it, what you're word goal is, and how much you've written so far. Thanks to camp, I have already written chapters lined up just for you. Yippee! **

**Looks like quite a few of you dear readers blew up. Sorry about that. This time, you have 26 minutes to review, or else your computer (or phone, or tablet) is going to play 36 hours of non stop reality tv. If you think getting blown up is bad, just wait for 36 hours of Jersey Shore to play.**

**I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. (Also, I don't own Merlin. Not the BBC version, anyway.)**

"We do nothing." Arthur declared some time later. His words seemed to break the spell that had been cast on the knights, and they all leapt up in protest, even Leon, who always saw fit to follow protocol.

"Nothing?" Gwaine repeated angrily. "We have to do something. If Merlin is being hit by _Gaius, _something is up."

"Of course something is up." Arthur sneezed twice before he was able to continue. "And if you have any ideas on what we can do, by all means, out with it."

The knights were silent, glancing at each other as if they thought it was some sort of trick. The king sighed and finished for them.

"I could imprison Gaius." he started. The knights shouted in protest.

"You can't imprison Gaius!" Elyan said loudly, and in clear disarray. "He saved the life of every single person in this room, yours more than any." he pointed a long finger over at Arthur.

"Besides, Sire. What would you arrest him for?" Leon asked, clear-headed. "Even if he did hit Merlin," Here his fellow knights glared at him for suggesting Percival was wrong. "You can't throw him in the dungeons for disciplining his ward."

They all took a moment to murmur to themselves, and Gwaine spoke up next.

"But Gaius would never hit Merlin!"

"Exactly." Arthur continued. "There's something wrong with Gaius. It could just be a mood thing, perhaps he hadn't eaten in a while..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish and knowing the very suggestion sounded stupid.

"You know it's more than that." Percival said quietly. "He's been acting strangely for a while now."

"Since Lamia." Gwaine suggested.

"Since before that." Leon realised with a start. "When I went to visit him for Lady Augustine's medicine, just when the sweating sickness started, I heard him. Talking to himself. Saying- saying dark things."

"We can't arrest him." Percival told the others, his soft voice soothing the news. "If this is a misunderstanding, we would feel terrible. Merlin would never forgive us."

Arthur scowled. "Merlin." he rolled his eyes. "Why is it that I feel like every decision I make is influenced by him?"

"Because he's your best friend, Sire." Leon informed him. "Or don't you know?"

"He's not my- he's a servant, we're not-"

"You're best friends." Gwaine interrupted. "Get over yourself and deal with it. Now, if you didn't notice, we have a bit of a problem on our hands."

"I could- interrogate Merlin." Arthur suggested. "He lives with Gaius, Merlin must now something."

The knights just stared at him.

"Merlin, Sire." Leon nodded to him, speaking slowly as if Arthur was demented. "Your manservant, Merlin."

"My manservant, Merlin." Arthur repeated, annoyed. "I can ask Merlin what's wrong."

"We're talking about Merlin." Gwaine leaned forward, away from the pile of armor (that Merlin was supposed to have polished before his tumble!) that had been previously supporting his weight. "What honestly makes you think Merlin would tell you anything, especially if something was wrong, especially if you asked."

Arthur realised the problem. "Then what do I do?" he shouted. "How do I fix this?"

"You don't." Percival said softly, and Elyan looked up at him in surprise. "You can't. I'm sorry, Arthur, but there's something at work here. And I don't think you can fix it."

Arthur didn't think he could, either.

* * *

Gaius shoved open the stuck door to Morgana's hovel, his nose wrinkling from the smell. He tried to stop himself from making a remark on how low she had become. How disgusting.

"Come along, my child." he said to her, putting all of his effort into making his voice warm and soothing. Morgana followed him inside, and he pulled the rickety wooden door shut behind her.

"Gaius," Morgana called out weakly. He helped her into a chair and then sat on her only spare, slightly worried that it would collapse beneath him. "What shall we do about those traitors that once called themselves our friends?"

_Once called themselves _your _friend, _Gaius corrected her in his thoughts. _They called me their physician. _

"We must take Camelot from them, my lady." he suggested, bowing his head submissively. "And put you on the throne. It is your rightful place."

"Mmhhmm." she agreed absent mindedly. "We'll take Camelot. How?"

"You forget, my lady." Gaius smiled at her, ignoring how much it hurt his facial muscles. "We have a man on the inside now."

"Agravaine?"

"No." he snapped, and then realise his mistake. "No, no." he backtracked quickly. Gaius patted her hand kindly. "Agravaine can do nothing except share intelligence, and only small bits at that. Now we have me. I'll prescribe medicine for the prince, medicine that I may just have accidentally labeled as medicine when in actuality, it is poison-"

"No." Morgana interrupted, more alert now. "You will not kill Arthur Pendragon. Drug him, give him a sleeping draught, I don't care. But do not kill him. I want him alive." She stood, dramatically puffing out her chest. "I want him to see the people of Camelot bow to me!"

Gaius smiled and nodded, standing as well. Trying to rewrite the plan that was already in his head to glide into Morgana's changes. "Of course, my lady." he nodded.

_Of course, I shall do exactly as you wish._

* * *

Merlin ran through the woods, thorny brambles catching on his clothes and face. He had to get back. Back to Camelot. Back to Arthur. Back to home, that Gaius was going to destroy. Back, back, back. Camelot, Arthur, Home.

Gaius.

Would Gaius kill him? Merlin didn't know. He didn't want to know. Because the answer terrified him. Would Gaius kill him? Would he? Would-

Yes.

Yes, yes, yes. Gaius would kill him. Gaius would have him hanged, or boiled in oil, or pushed off a tower, or starve him, or break his neck, or burn him, or-

Merlin choked back a sob. He did not want to burn. Death by fire, that was the worst. Gaius could kill him quickly or slowly, Merlin didn't care, just so long as it was not death by fire. Just so long as he did not wake one morning to be lead to the pyre, and made to watch as the oil soaked wood was lit, or made to feel as the flames burned him and the smoke suffocated him. Or made to die as he gave in.

He didn't want to die. But especially by fire.

Perhaps Gaius would tell Arthur about Merlin's magic. That would be just as bad. Worse, even.

How could Merlin look into Arthur's eyes, his best friend's eyes, when he knew his secret? When he hated Merlin for lying to him, for betraying him. What would Arthur do next?

Would Arthur burn him?

Merlin had nightmares. Terrible nightmares, that he awoke from covered in sweat, and with Gaius shaking him. Nightmares he awoke from with his throat hoarse from screaming, with his blankets torn where he had thought had been restraints, shallow cuts on his arms and chest where Merlin had tried to pull himself apart before the fire consumed him. Nightmares he awoke from more afraid than he had been, nightmares that seemed real, that were real, until he woke up.

And each time, Gaius would help him sit up. Gaius would fetch him water to soothe his throat and a damp cloth to pat on his forehead to cool him down. _Gaius _would bring him paste to put on his cuts, and bandages for the deeper wounds, where Merlin had turned more desperate to escape the fire by any means necessary. Gaius would care for him, heal him, help him.

Gaius had not woken Merlin for many nights now.

Merlin woke from his nightmares alone.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review! (Or face the curse of reality television.)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Well, uh, *cough* here we are again. Hope this chapter makes up for the break, it's 3,000 words. Woo! I will say that it's quite difficult to write fanfiction and novels at the same time. Especially when my computer doesn't have spell check. You're welcome.**

**10,000 words for Camp NaNo! Yay!**

**Good news! I now own Merlin. Well, I did, until my mom took it away from me and gave it back to BBC for not cleaning my room. Shucks.**

**There is a bubble of poison gas in this electronic device. In 37 minutes, it's going to explode in your face, thus killing you. Review if you want to live!**

**PLEASE READ: This takes place before Lancelot Du Lac and after Lamia. Thus, Arthur and Gwen are in love, but she is still a serving girl. He is ready to marry her, but is concerned about the kingdom.**

"Ah, Gaius." Arthur opened up the door to the hallway and greeted the old physician on sight. "I knew you couldn't be Merlin. He never knocks." Arthur laughed, trying to lighten the mood, and Gaius took the cue and chuckled. They stood in the doorway for a moment before Arthur realised and invited him in.

"I'm actually quite glad you're here." the younger man started the conversation after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Gaius nodded to show he was paying attention, and Arthur continued. "I wanted to speak with you. About, uh. About Merlin." Gaius was looking at him so fiercely Arthur had to force the words out of his throat. Something was stirring in his stomach that longed to leap out of his throat. _Fear. _

But why would he be afraid of Gaius?

"About Merlin, Sire?" the old physician repeated. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. Did he not show up for work this morning?"

"No, no. Well, yes actually." Arthur noticed, and shook his head to clear his thoughts. "He's been acting- off lately. And Percival _thought _you had hit Merlin." he put extra stress on the word thought. After all, he didn't want the physician to think this was an interrogation. It was simply an-inquiry. Gaius tilted his head to the side, as if thinking, and Arthur let the rest of his words out in a rush. "And Leon heard you talking to yourself, saying things, a while back, before the Lamia, and Merlin didn't want to take any medicine and was talking to you strangely and-"

Gaius interrupted him. "Sire, Merlin has been acting off ever since his accident. Yes, we were having an argument before I sent him back to work yesterday; he thought for some reason I was trying to poison him. I was simply trying to get him to take a potion for the pain when he attacked me, and I striked him in defense. I regret it to the depth of my heart. Oh, if only he hadn't fallen down those cursed stairs!"

Here, the old man's eyes turned rather red, and he sniffed, looking rather fragile. Arthur helped him into one of his chairs and fetched him a handkerchief, and Gaius blew his nose rather loudly.

"Merlin- attacked you." Arthur repeated, feeling rather numb. Why would Merlin ever want to attack Gaius? The boy had been knocked unconscious a fair few times, once so badly that he hadn't been coherent for _weeks, _and he had never attacked Gaius. When Merlin had been cursed by an old witch who had been aiming for Arthur (before he jumped in front of the spell, the idiot!) to see everyone as- something else. Merlin had never told him. But he had burst into tears a fair few times, and ran at Arthur to kick and punch and hurt until the other knights dragged him off, at which point he had began to kick and punch and hurt them. Gwaine had been shocked. They dragged him to Gaius, and even though Merlin had seen him as some horrifying monster or enemy, he had been able to contain himself. Not with anyone else. Occasionally Arthur. Everyone except Gaius was sporting several ugly bruises by the time the curse had worn off.

Merlin _never _hurt Gaius.

"I'm afraid so, Sire." Gaius shook his head regretfully.

"He- he couldn't have." Arthur stammered. "He just..._couldn't _have."

"He did."

The younger man took the news rather badly, pulling himself over to the other chair and collapsing in it. Gaius looked at him, concerned.

"Are you alright, Sire?" he asked.

"Fine." Arthur said, rather weakly. Why would Merlin attack Gaius? He had been concussed far worse, and had never taken a swing at the man who cared for him.

Gaius hovered over him in concern. "I'm not so sure, Sire. Let me get you some wine." He pushed his chair back and stood up, looking around quickly for the silver pitcher and a cup. Arthur pointed over to it, across the room, and Gaius made his way.

The younger man looked out the window from his chair, and distantly he could see Merlin, covered in mud and leaf matter, running across the stone walk way. Two passing servants said something to him, but he continued to run without so much as acknowledging them.

Merlin was as social as one could be. He made friends practically everywhere (except when he made enemies), and always stopped to speak with everyone in the castle. Always. But not this time.

Perhaps Gaius was right. Maybe this was the head wound that had finally done it, the head wound that had pushed Merlin over the edge.

Arthur could hear Gaius pouring the wine, his back turned. The old physician brought the goblet over to him and set it on the table before drawing a small vial out of his deep pocket and pouring it into the drink.

"What is that?" Arthur asked, more alert now. Gaius pushed the wine towards him.

"A draft for the nerves." the physician explained. "I know the whole ordeal with Merlin has made life rather difficult for us all. The draft will help you calm, Sire."

"If you say so." Arthur took the goblet with one hand and drained it in a big gulp. After all, he had no reason to distrust Gaius, did he?

The edges of his vision started to blacken and Arthur felt himself go limp. The old physician stood over him, a massive smirk on his face.

Did he?

* * *

"Gaius!" Gwaine exclaimed happily, and continued speaking without pausing for breath. "I was wondering if you'd seen Merlin. I haven't seen him all day, and you know, worrying. Does he seem okay to you? He seems not okay to me. Of course he seems not okay, he fell down a flight of stairs, but still, worrying."

He continued to ramble on, and Gaius sighed, watching as Gwaine's mouth moved up and down and not listening to him one bit. The guards patrolling the corridors walked past, and Gaius waited several minutes before interrupting the knight.

"You know what?" he injected when Gwaine paused to breathe. "I think I did see Merlin actually. He went this way."

"Oh? Thanks, Gaius." Gwaine trotted along behind him like a young pony. Gaius tried to keep his steps even, looking over his shoulder at the heavy golden chalice that was sitting on a stand as decoration.

As speedily as he could, Gaius reached for the ornate cup and slammed it at Gwaine's head. The wayward knight collapsed, hitting the stone floor with a rough BANG. A young boy walking past (probably a squire and not a servant, judging by his clothing) looked at him in alarm, eyes travelling back and forth from the chalice in the physician's hands to the unconscious knight on the floor.

Gaius sighed, setting the now dented object back on it's stand. "You never saw anything, hear me, boy?" he asked, his voice forceful. "You never saw anything, I'm the physician, I could just as easily tell them you're delusional and unfit for training."

The boy nodded quickly.

"Good." Gaius paused to think for a moment. "I've just discovered this man unconscious in the hallway, yoe found him first and called for a help. Now," his eyes narrowed. "Grab his arms."

Trembling, Ashton did as he was told.

* * *

Sir Percival was turning around the corner when he heard the sniffling. "Who's there?" he asked, moving slowly to be prepared if something jumped out at him. It was what the time in Camelot had done to him.

"I -I didn't-" One of the junior squires was lying one the floor of the corridor, weeping. Percival couldn't quite see his face, which was turned away from him at the wall, but the boy's entire body was trembling terribly.

"Are you alright?" the large knight as kindly, and put a light hand on the squire's shoulder.

The boy jumped, flinching away from him. He quickly sat up, leaning against the stone wall, and wiped at his face ashamedly, although he could not bring himself to stop crying.

"P -Perci -I didn't -it wasn't my-" the young squire could hardly get the words out he was stuttering so badly. Percival sat down next to him to try to calm the boy down, but for some reason this only made the tears faster.

"Sh, sh." the knight rubbed small circles on the boy's back, an attempt to relax him, at least enough to regulate his breathing. "It's okay. What's wrong? It's Ashton, isn't it? What's wrong, Ashton?"

Ashton nodded furiously at the mention of his name, but when asked what was wrong, he let out a cry of shock and turned his head away from the large knight in shame.

"Is it serious?"

Yes.

"Can you tell me?"

No.

"Why not?

Ashton gasped loudly, so Percival drew him into a warm hug. He could almost feel the boy relaxing. After a moment, the squire let out a moan, signalling he wanted to say something.

"What is it?" Percival asked softly, to keep him in this state of calaminity*.

"It's-" Ashton's throat wasn't cooperating, and he had to pause. "The court physician- I think- I saw him-" the boy stopped to gasp again. "I saw him kill a man. I saw him kill-"

Ashton jumped out of his arms, pleading for forgiveness, that he hadn't meant to. Percival just looked at him, wondering what had suddenly caused the boy to snap.

Gaius had killed a man. And Ashton had seen it.

Who? Percival found himself asking, and he suddenly realised that no one had seen Merlin since yesterday. What had Gaius done?

"It's alright." the big knight smiled, even though it most certainly wasn't alright. "It's going to be alright." Ashton pushed himself even farther away from the man, whimpering that he was sorry. "It's not your fault." Percival comforted. It was Gaius's fault.

Something heavy hit him in the back of the head, and Percival spun around in time to see Gaius standing behind him, a heavy goblet in one hand. Without meaning to, the large man fell, trapping Ashton under his wait.

"He killed Sir Gwaine." the boy had time to whisper before Percival fell into the creeping darkness. "I saw him kill Sir Gwaine."

* * *

Elyan and Leon were training in the field, practicing with their non dominant hands, something Arthur pushed them at. Both were sweating profusely, the hot sun beating down on them.

"Hello, Sir Knight." Gaius strolled past them, his brown robes trailing slightly behind him. He nodded to Sir Leon. "Sir Knight." Another nod, this time directed at Elyan. "May I see the both of you in the armory, when you're ready?"

Leon nodded, and turned back to Elyan. "What do you think he wants?" the senior knight asked, frowning. Elyan shrugged and they continued their fight, still talking.

"I'd like to share words with him about Merlin." Elyan shook his head and switched hands to shake out his wrist.

"You know Arthur said we shouldn't." Leon gave the other knight a moment to rest his arm. "You ready to go again?"

Elyan nodded, and they started up their training again. After a couple more minutes, when both were tiring significantly, they decided to be done for the day. Two squires ran up to help them get out of their armor, but the knights brushed them off. After all, if Gaius was waiting for them in the armory, they could just take their own armor in for storage and see what the old man wanted as they did so.

They didn't get the chance.

* * *

"Gwen?" Gaius whispered. It was dark in Gwen's house; all the lights had been extinguished and the curtains drawn tightly, with layers of left over cloth the physician assumed was from Gwen's seamstress work. He could just barely see the floor in front of him, and couldn't tell if Gwen was home or not.

"Over here." a voice croaked from the corner. Gaius quickly tracked the noise to the bed, walking slowly as to not trip over something Gwen had left on the floor in her incapacitated state.

"Are you alright?" the physician asked. He could see her faint outline on the bed that had once belonged to Tom the blacksmith. Before responding, Gwen leaned over the side of her bed and threw up in a specifically placed bucket Gaius had not previously seen. "I guess that answers my question." he said in a dry tone.

"I've been sick since last night." Gwen whispered, her voice musky. "Have you come to give me something, Gaius?"

"Yes," the old man improvised. "Yes, I've come to give you something. Medicine." he corrected. "I heard you weren't feeling well from one of the other servants. What are your symptoms?"

"I've been throwing up since last night." the serving girl began. "It started with nausea, so I laid down, and withing the hour I was vomiting. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, and the vomiting hasn't really stopped."

Gaius looked at her sympathetically, although he doubted that it really mattered what with it being so dark in the house. Looking down into his satchel, the physician shoved around the items in his bag, pushing aside several suspicious looking vials, one of them a deep purple sludge, a sheathed dagger, a small cannon ball, and a chemical soaked cloth until he found a small bag of dried leaves and two shards of flint. "This will help clear up your symptoms, my dear." he said, and quickly lit the easily flammable herbs. "Breathe in." the physician instructed. Gwen did as she was told, having no reason not to, and her eyelids immediately began to droop as her other facial features relaxed.

"Mm' feelun' dibur alrid," she slurred, and slumped into Gaius's waiting arms.

"I'm sorry, my dear." he apologised to her unconscious form. "But you're in love with Arthur, and now you have a part in this as well. If only you had stayed hidden."

The old physician shook his head and looked down at her sadly. A piercing light from the window drew his attention, and Merlin's eyes widened.

The boy was a fast runner, Gaius realised. No matter. He knew exactly where his ward would go.

* * *

"Merlin." the calm, familiar voice drew Merlin out of his thoughts.

"Gaius." He looked up to see the old physician standing in the door way, looking at him with a slight smile on his face. It hurt.

"Are you going somewhere?" the old man asked kindly. Merlin had to close his eyes and take a deep breath to stop himself from breaking down right then and there. There was too much at stake to lose it now.

"No." Merlin lied, and then looked down at the bag in his hand that he was stuffing his spare shirt into. Gaius raised one eyebrow, and expression that had always meant, "I know you're lying Merlin. Now tell me the truth." And with that, Merlin couldn't help himself. It was _Gaius. _

"Yes." he said truthfully. "Far, far away, until I can figure out away to fight back against you and Morgana." Merlin just left out his plans to detour to find Arthur and bring him with.

Gaius looked at him proudly. So the boy knew about his plans with Morgana. He was more clever than he looked, the old man always forgot about that.

"You filthy little coward." Gaius smiled at him, his eyes dead. "You were going to run away from Camelot when your friends need you most. You're pathetic."

Merlin flinched visibly, and finished stuffing his shirt into the bag. "You and I both know that there is nothing I can do here now. I'll be back when I'm ready."

"Pathetic." the man spat again, making no move to leave the doorway.

"I am not!" Merlin tried to keep his voice firm, but he couldn't help it, the words came out like a wail. "Leave me alone." he decided on, and this time his tone stayed flat.

Gaius moved out of the doorway, and keeping his head high in the air, Merlin started to leave, paying no attention to the tears that were threatening to run down his cheeks. It wasn't his fault. He would come back, there was nothing he could do here, he needed to get Arthur and leave. He wasn't pathetic, he wasn't a coward, he wasn't, he wasn't.

The sharp pain in his back registered before the fall. Gaius was standing over him, looking smug.

"I can't actually let you go, Merlin." he said sounding somewhat regretful. "Although we both know how much more fun that would be."

And then Gaius was on top of him, one knee in Merlin's chest to stop him from getting up, although that wouldn't be a problem, he was already hurt from his fall down the stairs, and this was bad, so bad, and Gaius's hands were wrapping around his throat, choking off his air. Choking off his air, suffocating him, and he couldn't breathe, couldn't _breathe. _Gaius was going to kill him, he couldn't breathe and Gaius was going to kill him, Gaius was going to stop him from breathing, and oh, he was going to _die._

But at least it wouldn't be by fire.

**A/N: Like it? Hate it? Review!**

***calaminity: the state of being calm**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long, I was suffering from serial un-writingness. I mean, I wrote. I just hated all the stuff that came out of my hand. (Hand? Brain? Imagination?)**

**Do you feel lie reviewing? Well, you should! It's fun! Apparently it can reduce stress too. (The words of a professional. I mean, I act like a professional sometimes, so it counts, right?)**

"Oh. My head." Arthur mumbled, forcing his eyes to open, although they didn't want to. His vision was still a little cloudy, so he blinked several times to clear it up. Wherever he was, there was hardly any light, and the vision regaining process was going slower because of it. "Where am I?" he felt stiff.

"Arthur?" Elyan? Was that-

"Sire, are you alright?" a firm voice asked. It was a voice that Arthur had heard many times throughout his life.

"Leon?" he moaned. The room around him began to come into focus, revealing that it wasn't actually a room at all, it was a cell. Arthur was lying on the floor of a cell. After making a quick mental note to change the hay for sleeping on every once in a millennia, he sat up, too quickly. "Oh," he said weakly, his vision swimming.

"Sire?" Leon shouted. "Sire!"

When Arthur opened up his eyes again, he was lying back. "I'm okay," he promised, although he didn't feel it. He stood up, slower this time, clutching onto one of the bars of his cell for support. Leon, in the cell next to him, was reaching through the barriers to help him up. "No, really Leon. I'm alright."

Leon got the message and let go of his painful grip on the king. Arthur frowned, looking for a possible explanation for what had happened. None came to mind.

"Arthur, are you okay?" Elyan asked. He was in the far cell, next to Leon. Arthur shook his head.

"I don't-" he stammered, trying to find the words. "I don't suppose you quite- remember?"

Leon looked at him darkly. "It seems Gaius is not himself, Sire. It seems Gaius is not himself at all."

It all came rushing back into Arthur's head, his discussion with Gaius, the "nerve settling" drug. Nerve settling. It was some kind of sedative, something had knocked him out.

"Is it just us?" Arthur inquired, somewhat frantically. "Where are the others?"

"They're fine, Sire." Leon promised. "As fine as you could expect. They're all here with us, anyway."

"Not all of them." Elyan said darkly. "Gwen was taken away a little while ago."

"Gwen? Gwen was here?" Arthur shouted. His eyes narrowed. "Full report," he ordered. "Now."

"Gwaine is still unconscious. Maybe dead, we're not quite sure. Percival is in the cell next to Elyan, one of the junior squires is with him." The light was dark in the dungeons, but once Arthur squinted he could make out Percival hunched over a crying figure.

"A junior squire?" Arthur repeated. "Which one?"

"Ashton." Elyan said. "He's a small boy. Handy with a dagger, but he can hardly lift a sword." Arthur nodded and stored this information away for further use. He had, in fact, seen Ashton with a dagger and was forced to admit that the boy was rather good, if a bit weak.

"And what about Merlin?" Arthur inquired. "Or is he in the tavern having a nice nap?" Leon shifted uncomfortably at the question, a move that made Arthur's stomach turn in worry. "Leon," he said darkly. "Where is Merlin?"

"He's across the hall." Leon said, not looking at Arthur. "We tried talking to him, but." He stopped abruptly, forcing conclusions to be reached. Bad conclusions. Arthur looked at the cell across from his, but couldn't see anyone. He looked to Leon, question posed on his face. "He's there, Arthur.' Leon promised. "Listen."

Arthur did, and immediately wanted to cover his ears and scream until he couldn't scream anymore.

Quietly, barely even audible, Merlin was crying. Soft gasps that made Arthur's heart break and then heal and then break again.

"Is he-" Arthur asked, feeling slightly disconnected. Wrong, somehow.

"He hasn't said a word." Elyan informed him, sounding somber. "And he hasn't stopped crying."

* * *

Gwen was not going to cry. She wasn't. She wouldn't-

Damn.

"Marcus?" she tried, talking to one of the two guards that were pulling her through the halls. "Marcus, why are you doing this? It's me, Gwen. Gwen." Marcus didn't respond, walking with his head straight ahead and his eyes blank. The other guard Gwen didn't know as well, she thought his name was Gordon but couldn't be sure.

She had no idea where they were headed, every time she thought she could safely assume their ending destination they turned down a new hallway, completely contradicting her thoughts. Before too long a door was shoved open, and Guinevere found sunlight blinding her.

"Guinevere, servant in the house of Pendragon, you are here as punishment." Morgana was standing on the platform Uther used to stand on while supervising executions. "For your crimes against your Queen, we have decided on a severe penalty."

No. God no.

Gaius and Agravaine stood on either side of Morgana, Gaius looking down at Gwen with calm ferocity. Agravaine was looking at Gaius.

The guards, Marcus and the other, (Gordon?) were leading her over to the hanging post that Morgana had installed almost as soon as her arrival. Gwen tried to fight the men off, but it was to no avail and too soon, it seemed, they were dragging her up the steps, holding her still directly under the rope.

"I hope this is a lesson to you all." Morgana said from the balcony. "Betrayal is one thing I will not stand for, especially from my subjects." The crowd below seemed to shudder together, and Gwen closed her eyes.

"Please, Morgana," she whispered although she was sure her old friend could not hear her. "Please don't do this."

The rope was pulled over her head, and the drum counting her last moments began pounding in the rhythm of her heart. Gwen waited for the platform to fall, for her neck to snap.

It didn't. She heard a snipping noise and her eyes flew open. One chunk of her hair was on the ground by her feet. Looking up at Morgana, who was smirking, Gwen felt her heart rush. Her one beauty.

No matter. It would grow back, and if Morgana thought she could break Gwen by simply cutting off her hair, she obviously didn't know her very well. More lengths of her dark brown hair floated down around her, but Gwen held eye contact with Morgana the entire time. After a few moments, when her head felt considerably lighter, the cold metal was pulled away for the last time and the rope pulled off. The remaining hair on her head was cropped unevenly, some pieces of it inches longer than others.

"Long live the king." Gwen said loudly, knowing Leon would be proud. She could see the anger on Morgana's face grow.

"Take her far away," she shouted. "Put our resilient Guinevere with her dear king." Something about the way she spoke the words caused Gwen to shiver.

Once she had been dragged into the hallway, alone if not for the dead eyed guards whom she was sure could not see or hear a thing, Gwen felt herself release. The tears that she had fought so hard against finally poured down her face as she felt the loss of her hair, the hair she had been growing out since she was a little girl. Now lying in clumps to be swept away by the wind.

Gwen told herself she couldn't be bothered by the loss of something as trivial as her hair. Especially in this new world, where Morgana was queen and Gaius was an evil, cunning old man. She would not mourn her beauty.

Would Arthur?

* * *

In his drowsy state, Arthur had forgotten about his other knights. Fourteen others, stripped of their armor and weapons, were tied together in the cellar, shivering and in just thin shirts and pants. Eighteen senior squires, who were ready to try for their knightship in just a few months, were right there with them, along with twenty two junior squires, the oldest of which was 14 and the youngest of which was 7. They were all huddled together, freezing cold and terrified.

The cellar door creaked open and light bathed the dark faces of the prisoners. A man, his face slimy and disgusting looking, peered over at them and spat on the ground.

"So these are 'em knights of Camelot, eh?" he asked, his voice too loud. "Don't seem very regal to me." He spat again, for good measure, and pulled the door open wider so the knights and squires could see an official looking crowd of guards, all staring into blank space. "Don't try ter fight," the leading man instructed, grabbing hold of the rope tied to ring by the entrance. "We'll kill ya' in a heartbeat."

The man was speaking the dull truth, and the once mighty knights of Camelot and their squires knew it. They put up no fight as they were led out of the cellar, the mindless guards encircling them like a barrier to prevent them from escape. But they all knew it would be worthless to even try. These guards were all equipped with heavy swords, armor; they could call for help. The prisoners could fight with only their fists, in thin clothing. No help would come. The knights of Camelot were not idiots, they knew better than to fight.

"Yer all gunna see 'em truths," the leading man said, slurring slightly. The men and boys closest to him could smell alcohol on his breath.

The lights of the corridors were nothing compared to the light of the courtyard. After being stuck to shiver in that cellar all night long, wondering if anyone would ever come to release them, the sunshine felt warm on their skin. The warriors all closed their eyes, basking in a synchronized moment of relaxation.

"Knights of Camelot," the feminine voice scoffed. The older knights knew that voice from the time she had roamed around the castle, a carefree and beautiful young girl, and the younger ones were familiar with the greatest enemy of Camelot. Morgana stood up on the balcony where the king belonged, looking down on them as if seeing rats. "They don't look up to the standard of Uther."

Gaius, standing next to her, laughed openly. The knights were shocked; this was a man that every single one of them had been to visit individually after a training accident or a mishap during patrol. The court physician had cared for them, talked with them, told them off in a way that only a father would. And now he was standing directly beside Camelot's most threatening enemy, standing beside her in open companionship.

The knights and squires were led up a wooden platform, standing with their shoulders almost touching and a rope above each of their heads. They all knew what a hanging platform looked like, and this one seemed fit to hang fifty men. Fifty four, to be exact.

The youngest, a squire who was seven years old and had been taken off the streets for training by order of the king himself, began to cry. The men were lined up by height, and each head turned to look at the small boy who couldn't help himself. The squire next to the crying lad, a 9 year old named Geoffrey, held the boy as best he could with his hands bound fiercely in front of him. A man came down the row and secured the ropes around their necks without bothering to put a bag over their heads first, as was custom in public hangings.

"The lady Morgana is a bloodthirsty beast who delights in killing children," one of the younger knights said, his voice trembling. Several of the audience members had begun to cry as well; Morgana had forced the citizens of Camelot to witness this mass execution.

The dark haired woman's face remained absolute. "No matter," she said loudly. "For it is not your approval I seek. You will die knowing that I have won, and you have failed. You will die knowing your king is in my dungeons, and his citizens belong to me. You will die feeling their suffering."

The drum began to beat, pulsing in their minds. More of the younger squires had begun to cry now, and Geoffrey was torn away from the crying boy he had been comforting.

"Beg for your lives." Morgana ordered over the drums. "Beg for your lives and I will spare you, for I am a merciful queen."

"We beg only for the likes of you to be thrown out of this Camelot," the oldest knight, who was no threat to anyone, just a sad old man said. "We beg for your head to roll in the dirt and for the people you have hurt to spit upon the ground of which you have walked."

She raised her hand and the trapdoors fell away, leaving fifty four men swinging.

**A/N: No, I'm afraid you won't know if Gwaine is dead or not today. So you'll just have to keep reading. Is he dead? Is he not dead? Is he a zombie and this is going to turn into an AU zombie apocalypse Merthur story? You'll have to wait and see. (It's not an AU zombie apocalypse Merthur story. Sorry to get your hopes up.)**

**Reviews make me hapy! (And they make you happy too!) Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, **bubzchoc, RocknRollagirl, A Fellow Reader, IndiaMoore, LaRieNGuBleR, and bubzchoc. **I'd also like to thank those who have reviewed almost if not every chapter, such as, **MamzelleHermy, helgashouse, mintythefox, and katierosefun. **And a MASSIVE thank you to the person who finally got me to start writing fanfiction instead of thinking about it, has reviewed every single chapter, and is the reason I have actually pulled myself out of my non-writing slump andstayed out, **staymagical. **She's the author of some really incredible fanfictions, and if you have not read At A Loss For Words by her you should go check it out. **

**Also my mother. Hi. **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Welcome back! Thank you all so much for the positive feedback on the last chapter, I hope this one if worth the waste.**

**There's this new psychological study happening. Yeah, apparently reviewing heightens your ability to retain information. So when you're done reading this, you should review and go study. For something. There's always something you can find, even as an adult, right?**

Arthur stood up in his cell, hearing the footsteps that meant someone was coming. "Gwen?" he asked, recognizing her form in between two guards. She nodded. "Release her." He ordered to the guards, but they continued as if they hadn't heard him. "Release her! Obey your king. This is treason."

"Leave it, Arthur." Gwen ordered quietly. He still couldn't see her properly; it was dark in the dungeons. The men threw her into the cell next to Merlin and locked the door before she could even stand.

"Wouldn't mind lighting one of those torches, would you?" Arthur asked crabbily. "It's ever so dark down here." To his surprise, the larger of the two guards lifted one of the unlit torches and lit it with the flames from the outer room lights, going around to light the torch outside each cell.

"What did they do to you?" Elyan said to his sister. "Are you hurt?"

"No." she said shakily, stepping into the light. Arthur gasped.

Gwen, who once had long dark hair past her waist, was now standing before them with uneven tufts of hair lying around her ears in some areas and almost to her shoulders in others. It was almost as if someone had wanted to humiliate her as much as possible. "Morgana." He said quietly.

Gwen nodded, and Arthur realized that she was weeping silently. "She's here Arthur. She's calling herself queen of Camelot."

Arthur could only shake his head. "Did you see Gaius as well?"

"Yes. And Agravaine."

"Agravaine is with her too?" he exclaimed. "No, there must be some kind of mistake. My uncle-"

"Is a creep." Percival finished for him, and Arthur looked over to where the voice had come from. His largest knight was standing, holding a tear stricken boy in front of him. "I'm sorry Arthur, but he's been acting dodgy for months. It makes sense."

"Hello, Ashton." Gwen said kindly, immediately taking notice of the boy in a way that made Arthur's heart flutter lightly. "Are you okay?"

"Uh huh." He could only nod, seemingly incapable of making words.

Arthur was glad Percival was fully functioning again, he needed that strong man. "Do you know how Gwaine is?" he asked, knowing that Percival would have the easiest time reaching the still unconscious knight to check for a pulse or some sign of breath that the others hadn't picked up on. Arthur hoped that there was a sign of breath that they had all missed, because at the moment he wasn't feeling too hopeful.

"The court physician knocked him out with a ceremonial goblet." Ashton said quietly, looking at his hands. "I don't think he's okay."

"We need to care for him, see if there's anything we can do." Arthur decided. "Someone needs to take care of Merlin too."

"Merlin?" Gwen repeated, worried. "What's wrong? What's happened to him?"

Leon looked at her sadly. "Nothing has changed from this morning," he said, and Arthur remembered that Gwen had been in the dungeons earlier, before he had regained consciousness. "He hasn't stopped crying. We can't reach him, Gwen."

Gwen took this as a challenge rather than a setback. "Merlin?" she asked, trying to make her voice calming. There was a slight outline of a dark figure at the far corner of the cell, and Gwen hoped it was Merlin and not just her imagination. "Are you okay?"

A soft gasp answered her, and she nearly cried out at how unnatural it sounded. Leon looked over at Arthur, not sure what he could do.

"We're going to get you out." Gwen was promising Merlin. "We're going to take care of you."

There was no reply this time, not even the sound of breath.

"Hey!" Arthur shouted at the door, hoping there was someone out there who wasn't a mindless lump like the guards seemed to be. "We need some help in here!" There was no response, not even an angry shout to shut up, but Arthur knew Morgana wouldn't afford to leave them unattended. They did, after all, have a bit of a reputation for escaping.

"Fine!" he continued. "I guess I'll just have to keep shouting until someone hears me. Maybe some of my men will join in as well. LA LA LA. LA!" Arthur sang, horribly off pitch. Percival, Elyan, and Leon immediately joined in, telling loud jokes and shouting to one another as if they were on opposite ends of a field. After a moment's hesitation Ashton joined in as well, and Arthur was surprised at how loud such a small boy could be.

Gwen, who was not screaming, heard Merlin whimper at the noise. No one was coming, and they were scaring him. Gwaine was not showing the slightest reaction, looking very peaceful. She couldn't see his chest rise.

"What the bloody hell do you want?" a disgusting looking man screamed, shoving open the door. The boys all stopped their shouting immediately. "I heard you, you can shut up. What do you want?"

"Some of our group is injured," Arthur started, remaining dignified, even though this man was slimy and a good head shorter than him, the very definition of shifty if there ever was one. "We require rudimentary medical supplies and, in the interest of preserving space, it's only logical for you to put two of us in one cell. We're taking up the whole area all spread out like this, and we won't be able to help heal our wounded when we can't even reach each other."

The slimy man shifted from one foot to the other, debating his situation. Leon was worried he would disagree simply because Arthur had used words that were too big for the man to understand, but after a moment he went to get the keys and medical supplies in the guard room.

"Thank goodness that worked." Elyan breathed the moment the man was out of earshot. "I thought he was just going to kill us for being more trouble than we're worth."

Arthur knew that they must be necessary if they were still alive, and he doubted the man would kill them for asking for a few herbs and bandages.

He came back with a guard who was standing behind him, swaying slightly and yet still looked able to break a man's neck with his pinky finger.

"There are 3 more men sitting in that room and even more outside the hallway, just waiting to slit you throats if you try and escape." The man warned. "So no funny business, you got it?" He tossed a box at Arthur through the bars, and the captured king caught it awkwardly.

The slimy man unlocked Arthur's cell door and pulled him out without bothering to be gentle before throwing him into the closest empty cell.

"You and the pretty girl, you're siblings, correct?" he asked Elyan, who nodded. The man turned to Arthur. "And she's his lover?" the question was directed to Elyan, not Arthur, and it was Elyan who answered.

"Yes."

The man pulled out a key and stuck it in the lock on the door to Elyan's cell, twisting until they all heard a loud click. "You move over with your dear KING." He said the word ironically, and Elyan would have hit him if their situation had not been so peril.

"You move in with your king as well." The man directed Leon, unlocking the cell door. "Take the drunk with you."

"He's not a drunk." Leon defended, even though Gwaine kind of was. "He's just unconscious and he hasn't woken up yet." He left the cell keeping his hands raised where the man could see them. Taking Gwaine by the ankles, Leon dragged the unconscious man in with Arthur and Elyan. The door was locked behind him.

"You're rather tough looking, aren't you?" the man asked Percival, who just stared. "And look at the little kiddie. Stop crying, kiddie."

"Leave him alone." Percival ordered, and pulled Ashton against himself in a motherly way. "He's just a boy."

"Move. Don't try anything." Arthur knew that Percival wouldn't run even if they were to give him a clear escape, he was the type of knight that would stay with his king and friends until the end. "Take the boy with you." Percival gripped onto Ashton tightly, shielding him away from the man, and entered the unlocked cell next to Arthur, Elyan, Leon, and Gwaine as directed.

The man was standing in front of the cell where Gwen was standing, looking at him disgustingly. Elyan glanced over at Arthur, who nodded slightly, ready to do anything if the man laid a finger on Guinevere.

"You're rather pretty, aren't you?" he twisted the key into the lock and Gwen exited on shaky feet to sit with Percival and Ashton.

"Wait!" Arthur shouted as the man began to leave. "We need him." he said, with a quick nod in Merlin's direction.

"Ah, yes." The man slowly walked back towards Merlin. "What's with him?"

"Nothing." Leon said before anyone else could answer. "He's just- scared." They all knew that Merlin was not "just scared," they had been in far more threatening situations and Merlin had held himself together just fine. "He's in shock. Please, put him with-"

The man cut him off, sick of the talking. "Alright, alright." He unlocked Merlin's cell and pulled the door open. "Out you come, ugly."

Arthur held his breath, anxious to see his manservant, worried at what was wrong that they hadn't been able to diagnose with him hiding in the corner. A minute passed and no one left the shadows.

"You hear me? Out!" the man ordered, stepping into the cell and pulling Merlin into the light.

Gwen was the first to react. Merlin's face was a mess of snot and tears: he had been crying for hours now. His neckerchief had been stretched and pulled down, revealing a pallet of colorful bruises around his neck, shaped like hands.

"Merlin." Arthur whispered before he could stop himself. He hoped no one heard. Had Gaius done this? Had Gaius tried to strangle his ward?

Merlin was shoved into cell with Percival, Ashton, and Guinevere, toppling over as his feet refused to support him. Percival let go of Ashton and caught Merlin gracefully, settling him onto the ground and ignoring the way the boy flinched away from his touch.

With a click the door was locked shut and the man left, leaving them alone. Arthur cracked open the box of medical equipment he had been supplied with and turned to Gwaine, unsure what to do.

"Check his breathing." Gwen instructed calmly. She had spent enough time helping Gaius care for the injured, and knew the essential steps. "Is he?"

Elyan knelt down beside Gwaine and pressed his ear to Gwaine's chest. He hesitated for just a moment, and Arthur's heart leapt with fear.

"Yes," Elyan said at last, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Feel for a head wound. Check for blood." Leon lifted Gwaine's head while Elyan gently felt for blood. He found it, crusted away on his skin. At the news, Guinevere bit her lip, unsure of what to do.

"Leave it for now." She ordered. "The blood will have to come off at some point, but we don't want the wound to start bleeding again." Arthur pulled a strip of bandages out of the container and tossed them to Leon, who slowly started to make wraps around Gwaine's skull.

"What do I do with Merlin?" Percival asked after he was sure Gwaine was taken care of. "He's not- He's just-" The tallest knight stutter, searching for the proper words to explain Merlin's condition. Ashton knelt down next Percival and set his hand down on Merlin's forehead.

"He's warm." The boy looked up worriedly. "Why is he so warm?"

Gwen pressed her hand where Ashton's had been a moment. "It's just a little fever. He'll be fine." Merlin's eyes were wandering, not resting on their faces, unfocused. He was still crying, and that worried Gwen the most. When she had awoken in the cells, hours earlier, Merlin had been awake before anyone else, and as far as they could tell he hadn't once stopped crying, hadn't once shown any sign of being able to hear them.

"Will he be okay?" Ashton asked softly. Gwen turned behind her and saw the knights staring anxiously. Arthur looked as though he was about to break down right there.

"Yes." Gwen lied. "Yes, I'm sure he'll be fine." Merlin's breath was choppy and disconnected, and she wasn't sure how he was getting enough air to stay conscious. Although, that might explain why he seemed totally oblivious to them all. She pulled down Merlin's shirt to get a better look at the bruises and winced. "Someone definitely tried to choke him."

"Gaius." Merlin croaked softly, and they all looked at him in shock. Gaius couldn't have done this. "I don't want any breakfast- I don't want-" And then he broke down sobbing again. Gwen held him close, despite his thrashing to try and escape her.

All Arthur could do was watch from the other side of the bars.

* * *

"My lady." Gaius bowed down, looking at the ground respectfully. Morgana nodded and he returned to full height. "May I inquire your plans for your brother?"

Her face curled into a snarl. "He can rot." She spat.

"And the others with him."

"I need them."

"Why?"

Morgana rose off her throne and moved to inspect the rows of servants on display. "My dear brother is… attached to them. His closest knights. Guinevere." Her voice paused for a moment. "Merlin."

"And what do you plan to do with them?"

"I plan to give my brother hope." Morgana lifted up the chin of a young kitchen maid she recognized, running her fingers across the girl's smooth skin. "I plan to let him think he has the upper hand, think he can escape, and then I will kill his friends one by one. Slowly." The girl turned her head away slightly, and Morgana pulled back and hit her across the face.

Gaius moved up to grasp one of two goblets on a table by the throne. He poured wine into it and offered the drink to Morgana, but she declined, so the physician took a long swallow. "And what of Agravaine?"

"What of him?" she asked, moving onto the next servant, a tall boy who had a stable hand look about him.

"What do you plan to do with him?"

She shrugged. "Do you have any requests?"

"I think he is a liar and can be bought for a price. You shouldn't trust him."

"Obviously." Morgana rolled her eyes. "What should I do with him?"

Gaius turned to refill the goblet. "Kill him." he suggested, taking another swig. "He's worthless."

Morgana was unconscious before she hit the floor.

The kitchen maid stiffened, her face white. "G-Gaius," she stuttered. "You have- you just-"

She didn't finish, for an old man he was very strong, and his backhanded slap sent her reeling. The tall boy next to her pulled her up and let her lean on him. They stepped back, away from where Morgana was lying in a puddle of wine and possibly blood. Gaius's goblet was lying on the floor close to her.

"Fetch Agravaine." he ordered, turning his back to the rows of servants. "One of you. The rest, return to your previous duties. I want Agravaine standing before me within the hour. And someone take the Lady Morgana away." He paused for a moment. "No need to be gentle."

And with that, he sat down in her ornate golden throne.

**A/N: So Gwaine is alive. I did think about making it an AU zombie apocalypse Merthur story, so if I accidentally slipped in something about Gwaine moaning for brains or Arthur thinking about how madly in love with Merlin he is, it was purely accidental. (Purely... accidental. *sigh*)**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! That means aRangersHorseLovesApples, along with those who are reviewing for not-their-first-time, katierosefun, MamzelleHermy, battlemaiden518, RocknRollagirl, kyleenason, and bubzchoc. Also thank you to my guest reviewers, Merlin's tears, and the wonderful reviewer Audrey. Again a special thank you to staymagical. Seriously guys. I would have written no fanfictions if not for her. It's because of her that you guys now know that reviewing helps you learn stuff. So review and... learn stuff!**

**Hi mom. I'll see you for breakfast. I love you. **


	11. Chapter 11

Arthur lifted his head and looked over at the door. He could hear movement in the hallway. Leon, who was sitting across from him, closed his eyes to focus on his hearing. Gwaine had still not woken up, and Elyan was checking his bandages gently. In the other cell, Percival was looking quite content, the boy, Ashton, sleeping in his lap. Gwen was lying on the floor next to Merlin; eyes closed and snuggled up against him. Merlin had fallen asleep at last, tears only stopping as he was floated into the land of dreams.

The dungeon door [?] was slung open by an enormous force, and two castle guards were dragging a fighting figure into badly lit space. Merlin jumped forward, fully awake immediately, while Gwen was still stirring beside him. He jumped backwards, intot the corner of the cell, apparently trying to pull the walls in on himself.

Arthur looked up as the door to his cell was opened. This new addition to their group was thrown in, and the bars were closed and locked, the guards gone before anyone could react.

The figure stood and brushed herself off, jumping backwards as she made eye contact with Arthur. "You!"

"Morgana." It took all of Arthur's power to not leap forward and break her neck. By the look of the knights around him, they were struggling as well.

"You don't look so well." She commented, spotting the now awake Gwen. "I love the new 'do, by the way."

Elyan snarled. "You monster." He spat. "What is this, another of your mind games? What are you doing done here?"

Morgana looked away, her face red. "That man has changed."

"We know." Leon said, standing. "Just ask Merlin."

"Merlin?" she repeated, looking around before spotting him in the corner of the two cells. "How… interesting." She leapt forward, grabbing the servant through the bars and locking his head between her arms, cutting off his air for the second time in just a few days.

The knights were on her in a moment, Percival shoving the still sleeping Ashton off his lap to pull Merlin away from her while Arthur, Leon, and Elyan, were using all their force to get her away from the bars, but to no avail. Gwen was prying at Morgana's fingers, crying.

"I'll kill him!" she screamed, tightening around Merlin's already sensitive neck. "I swear, I'll kill him!"

Merlin was pulling, fighting to get away, but Morgana was senseless, screaming and kicking at the knights who tried to stop her from defeating her prey. Ashton, now fully awake, was screaming for someone to come and help, but no one did. The squire raced over and, shoving Gwen aside, pulled himself close to the Lady Morgana and clamped his teeth down on her hand.

With a cry of surprise, she released Merlin, who pulled himself into the opposite corner, choking, and throwing Gwen and Percival away weakly. Arthur, Leon, and Elyan pulled at Morgana, trying to get her away, and she tried to move with them, but Ashton, teeth still stuck in her hand, pulled at the bars, digging deeper, breaking the skin.

"Ashton!" Percival cried, grabbing him around the middle to pull. "Ashton, let go. He's safe, let go!" The boy did, and the sudden release of a pull sent Morgana and the knights tumbling backwards, Leon accidentally hitting Gwaine in the process.

Gwen tried to move closer to Merlin, but he continued to flail his limbs about, one arm hitting her roughly in the face. "Percival!" she called, and the strong knight let go of Ashton to grab Merlin, holding him tightly until he tired and stopped. When Percival released him, Merlin pulled his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth, wheezing for breath.

"What the hell was that?" Arthur shouted, grabbing Morgana by the elbow and pulling her up roughly. "Get away from him!" She just looked at him, hatred all over her face. "Gwen!" Arthur pulled himself up to the bars,

Trying to pull himself straight through. "Is he okay?"

Gwen set her hand on Merlin's head, trying not to let the way he shuddered at the touch affect her. "He's fine. Arthur, he's fine."

Arthur breathed a visible sigh of relief and turned back to Morgana. "What is wrong with you?" he screamed. She didn't respond, and he took a step away, trying not to let his anger control him. "Why are you even down here, Morgana?"

She wouldn't meet his eyes. "It seems that Gaius- Gaius isn't quite-" Morgana didn't finish, trailing off and looking down at her hands.

Merlin let out a choked laugh, and they all looked at him surprised. He still seemed unable to properly react, but that laugh, that cracked little tease made Arthur swell with pride.

"Merlin?" he asked softly. "Are you okay?"

His manservant opened his mouth, looking as though he was trying to talk, but after a few rugged breaths [?]. Arthur looked to Leon, unsure what was happening, but after a moment of thought Gwen figured it out.

"Excuse me!" she cried at the door. "Do you have any water?" The knights were just getting ready to start shouting again when the door was thrust open and a water sack thrown at them before closing again. Elyan caught it awkwardly before passing it to his sister. She uncapped it and started to dab at Merlin's mouth, but he took it from her with an annoyed look and drank himself, having trouble getting all the water into his mouth because his hands were shaking so badly.

"Not too fast." Gwen said, pulling the water skin away from him, although his tongue followed it. "You'll make yourself sick." He gave her a look that so clearly said, "I _live _with Gaius, I know these things," that Arthur wanted to laugh out loud. "Fine," she decided, handing it back to him. "Just a little more."

After a few sips Gwen took it from him again and passed it to Leon. "Make sure Gwaine gets some." He nodded and knelt down beside his unconscious friend, tilting Gwaine's head up as he trickled water down his throat to insure that he did not choke.

"What are we still doing in here?" Merlin managed to cough out.

Arthur just shook his head. "I don't know if you realized this, _Mer_lin, but we happen to be prisoners in this dungeon." The idiot just shook his head, rubbing at the bruises on his neck without realizing. Arthur ached to ask how, to ask _why, _but Merlin was talking again, and not crying, and any relapses would not be his fault. So Arthur didn't mention it.

"Do you not remember?" Merlin asked, trying to regain his usual tone of banter, but the choked off sound of his voice was making it impossible. "You're knights of Camelot. And these dungeons aren't _that _secure. Any idiot could break out." With a glow in his eyes and a look specifically for Arthur, Merlin added, "Many do." He moved to get up, but immediately went very pale and shaky, so Gwen helped him the rest of the way. "I'm fine," he promised, but didn't refuse the assistance. "Just a bit light headed." He leaned on the bars and placed his hand on the lock before looking up, his face brimming with mischief. "Did you try the door?" Merlin asked, and pushed the bars open.

"Unbelievable." Leon breathed. "That idiot in charge must have forgotten to lock the door!"

"If he forgot to lock one, I'd bet he forgot to lock both of them." Merlin said, weakly pulling on their door. It opened with a creaking noise, and Elyan pulled Gwaine into a sitting position, sliding his arms around Gwaine.

"Help me, Leon." Elyan said, and Leon wrapped his arms around Gwaine's side and pulled him up. "Alright, let's go."

Arthur just sat in the corner, one hand still locked around Morgana's wrist. He was staring at Merlin darkly.

"Arthur, what are you doing?" Merlin hissed, looking back at him. They were all preparing for the fight that was sure to break out as they pushed through the doors leading to the hall. "Come on!"

"That man wouldn't forget to lock the doors." He said, his voice low.

Merlin paled immediately. "We don't have time for this, Arthur!" he stepped into the cell and started to pull on his king's arm. Surprised at how weak the grip was, Arthur stood and followed. Morgana stayed in the corner, just staring. Merlin turned back to her, "Fine, stay."

She stood and followed.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are thoroughly enjoyed and they let me know you care.**

**A special thank you to katierosefun, bubzchoc, MamzelleHermy, Shining in the Darkness, and BabyGlover. Thank you also to my guest reviewers, A Fellow Reader and Audrey. **


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I have returned! (I wasn't really gone for that long, you probably didn't even notice.) But in the time I was gone I completed Camp NaNoWriMo with 31,079 words. Which is major success considering my goal was only 25,000 words. Also, I wrote another fanfiction (for Merlin) called Eccedentesiast. It means someone who hides behind a false smile. (That should give you a hint as to the story.)**

**I love reviews as much as I love milkshakes! More, even. They make me happy. And they make you happy too! That's right, folks. Reviewing fanfictions helps your brain produce a chemical that makes you stay happy.**

**(It doesn't actually. That was a clever lie. But I do love reviews!)**

The halls of Camelot were empty, abandoned, and the group of knights, king, servants, and traitor were creeping quietly, keeping a careful lookout for any approaching life forms. Leon, keeping his back firmly pressed against the stone wall behind him, took a careful look around the corner and signaled to the other to follow. Gwen lead them into a small room full of brooms and rags: a large supply cupboard. She closed the door behind them and slid the lock in place, luckily there was a small window and it was still light out, at least for a little while longer.

"We need weapons." Elyan was the first to speak. "There's no way we're going to get out of here by just sneaking out the back door."

"What _are _we going to do?" Leon asked, putting them out of their momentary hope of escape. "Sure, we can get out, but it takes planning, brainstorming. And what do we do then? Gwaine is seriously injured, and we have no Gaius to take care of him, no help."

Merlin flinched at the mention of Gaius. Arthur put his arm around him and spoke, ignoring the way Morgana rolled her eyes. "We can't just sit in the dungeons and do nothing." He said. "I don't care what happens once we're out of this bloody castle, as long as we can come back and save the citizens of Camelot, as is our duty."

"Please," Morgana said sardonically. "There's no way you'll be able to get this castle back, not in a thousand years. The spells I have cast will keep you from touching these walls with intent that goes against the beliefs of the High Priestesses, and the guards have been enchanted. They will lay down their lives without a second thought. It would take incredibly powerful magic to reverse it."

Merlin shifted under Arthur's grip. "Why don't you reverse it?" the monarch asked.

"Why would I want to?"

Percival took a step away from Ashton to stand over Morgana. "Why would you not? Gaius has control of the castle, an old man overcame you. Why leave the spell to protect him?"

She just looked at him. "You have no idea, do you?"Morgana shook her head. "I didn't take the castle because I belong on the throne, I've never wanted to rule, at least, not enough to kill innocent people."

"Then why would you?" Gwen asked.

"Morgause believed I should rule. I am older than you Arthur, that is true, but I am a bastard. People like me- People like me do not belong on the throne." Merlin stepped away from them just a step. "But Morgause wanted me to rule as well. I only want to return sorcery to this land, to stop the slaughter of innocents."

"Yet you killed your own sister." Merlin said softly. The others looked at him in surprise. "Releasing the Dorocha. The Cailleach requires a blood sacrifice. You killed your sister, didn't you?"

Morgana spat at him. "Do not pretend like you can judge me, Merlin. My sister was gravely injured, she insisted. I told her no, I said we could go, far from Camelot, find her a healer, but she made me."

They were all silent for a moment. Then Morgana laughed.

"I don't care about any of you anymore," she assured them. "Get me out of here and we can negotiate the release of the spell."

"Is there a plan?" Ashton asked from the corner. He was being so quiet the others had forgotten about him.

Leon looked to Arthur, the movement jostling Gwaine, who was being held up between Leon and Elyan. "Yes, Sire, is there a plan?"

Arthur just looked at them all. "We'll go to the royal armory. Steal swords. Make an escape as quietly as possible. And come back when we have enough followers to take back Camelot."

"I don't know if that's smart." Percival put in. "We have one good shot at this, we need to make it good."

"Would you prefer we go back to the dungeons?" Morgana asked them. No one answered. "That's what I thought."

"Arthur's plan will work fine." Merlin assured them, but to Arthur it sounded more like a promise, and he thought back to how easily Merlin had pushed the dungeon door open, the door he had been sure was locked moments before. "I know it will."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I could really do with anyone other than this idiot agreeing with me." Arthur said, trying to restore their banter. Merlin was falling apart for all to see, and he wouldn't be able to deal with Arthur thinking- what? There was nothing strange about Merlin. Except, well, the usual.

"I'm with you." Leon promised. "Always." The other knights nodded, and Gwen took his hand carefully. Morgana rolled her eyes, but Arthur didn't care what she thought.

"Good." Arthur said. "Let's do this."

They didn't get far.

Outside the door was a small legion of men. It would be next to impossible to push their way through them, let alone fight them.

"Hullo." It was the same man from the dungeons. "Would you like any help in there?" He jumped towards them, brandishing a heavy sword over head. Arthur closed his eyes, bracing himself for the inevitable.

Percival jumped in front of his king, stopping the weapon with a heavy broom before kicking the man in the stomach and jumping over him, attacking the soldiers with nothing but a cleaning item and his own loud war cry.

"For the love of Camelot!" Leon shouted, grabbing his own broom. Elyan followed after setting Gwaine down with a quiet, "sorry, friend." Ashton joined in, and Morgana spat a level of jinxes and hexes that none had ever heard before.

"Quick, Arthur, come on!" Merlin shouted, taking the awed king by the arm and pulling him past the fighting men around them. "This way!" he screamed over the battle, ducking as a knife flew over his head.

"But- this is the wrong way." Arthur said. Merlin was pulling him away from the battle.

His servant didn't slow down. "This is the right way. We're getting you out. If it's at all possible, the others will join us when they're safe."

"We can't- Gwen- Leon-"

"They'll be fine!" Merlin promised, although Arthur didn't know how he could promise such a thing. "Just run!"

Arthur did run. He ran and he ran as fast as he could, yet somehow Merlin was still ahead of him the entire time. The king credited it to adrenaline. Merlin accredited it to something else.

"Oh, boys." The voice stopped Merlin dead in his tracks, staring in horror at the man in front of them. The boy's hands immediately went up to his throat. Gaius just laughed. "You should know better than to try and fight back, Merlin." He said. "After all, you lived with me for how many years? Five?"

"You weren't like this before." Merlin said, said, his voice shaking. "You were different. Better."

"Better?" Gaius pouted. "I prefer to think that I've changed for the better, thank you very much."

Arthur stayed silent, keeping a careful eye on the men standing behind the ex- physician. Sixteen- no, seventeen. One was hiding behind a larger man. And Arthur had no weapon. He wasn;t quite sure how he was going to be able to get them out of this one.

"I wish you were dead." Merlin said quietly and spat. "RUN, ARTHUR!"

Merlin didn't need to tell him twice. Arthur turned and ran as fast as he could, and then some. Glancing over his shoulder, Arthur could see the men getting dangerously close, but Gaius was just standing still where they left him, the soldiers forming a bubble around him. Merlin was staying ahead of them, but just slightly, and Arthur silently pleaded for him to run faster, just a little bit faster.

The king heard a choking noise and turned without thinking. One of the enchanted men had Merlin, his knife pressed up against his idiot manservant's neck. Arthur froze, and slowly let his hands rise above his head.

"Arthur- no," Merlin pleaded, cut short when the man's knife dug deeper into his neck.

Gaius walked over to them slowly, just to show who was in control. "You can take the king back down to his dungeons." The physician ordered in a droll tone. The soldiers started to march Arthur away, and the man with Merlin under his knife threw the boy to the ground in front of the king.

"Not him." Gaius clarified, kicking Merlin hard in the stomach. The already out of breath boy gasped and crumpled into a ball. "I'll be having a chat with my ward."

"No!" Arthur shouted, but the men were enchanted, and oblivious to his words. "Gaius, please! Gaius, please don't hurt him! I beg of you. Please!" he yelled one last time before they dragged him away.

Gaius looked down at Merlin, curled up and breathing heavily. "Find me some manacles." He ordered, not looking away from the wounded boy. The guard passed him the iron restraints, the old man couldn't fathom where from. "Well, what am I supposed to do with them?" he asked rudely. "I'm not about to go bending down in my age. Put them on him."

The man bowed his head [respectfully?] and got on his knees next to Merlin, locking his wrists roughly into the chains before looking back to Gaius for more orders.

"What are you waiting for?" the old man spat. "Lift him up."

The man lifted Merlin to his feet with ease, and began to half carry, half drag the boy down the hall behind Gaius.

"Oh, Merlin, you've been very bad, haven't you?" Gaius said in a mock of a scolding. "And now you have to be punished." He pushed the doors to the courtyard open with practice ease. The sun was setting in the sky, and the villagers had begun to gather, having heard the ferocious war cries of Percival, Leon, and Elyan. Merlin couldn't help but realize that the battle was silent, over. He could only hope that his friends were okay.

"This boy has tried to resist me!" Gaius shouted to the small crowd before him. "And now an example needs to be made of him." He motioned to one of the men standing guard, who pushed the flogging post into the center of the courtyard.

No. Gaius couldn't- he wouldn't. The man supporting Merlin's weight through him forward in the dirt, only to be lifted up again by more strangers, and dragged to the post.

He would.

The shackles were unlocked and Merlin's arms were stretched out and bound to the wood. He could look out at the crowd, but would not be able to see when the whip was coming to brace himself. Merlin closed his eyes, ready and waiting.

"The punishment will result as follows," Gaius began, and Merlin flinched, the anticipation sending his heart into crazy flutters.

The two sided door to the courtyard opened loudly, and the restrained boy could hear the patter of synchronized footsteps exiting. Slowly, before his eyes, the crowd began to disperse, leaving Merlin in a state of panic. Where they waiting for him to relax, only to beat him harsher? What was happening?

Almost half an hour later, Merlin reached the conclusion that no one was coming to flog him or otherwise. Passing servants kept their eyes down, and the citizens stared when they thought he couldn't see them. The sun was almost completely down, it was growing darker. Night was approaching.

No one came.

**A/N: I hope you liked it. I enjoyed writing it. (Although certain parts did seem to go slow.)**

**A big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it meant so much to me. That means **katierosefun**, **madisonlevine**, **MamzelleHermy**, **Polomonkey**, and **bubzchoc**.** **Also to the always appreciated guest reviewers, **Audrey**, **A Fellow Reader**, and **Emrys'Apprentice**.** ** And we're so close to 100 REVIEWS! YAY! Help this story get to 100 by reviewing today. **

**Congratulations to **staymagical, **who recently published the sequel to her amazing story At A Loss For Words. She also really keeps me going as a writer, so that's good. And **katierosefun **published the next chapter in her adorable story He's My Friend, which is all about Merlin and Arthur when they were children. So check both of those out. **

**My mother will receive another thank you when I'm confident she's read past Chapter 9, to those of you who asked. (Hi for when you get here, mom.) **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hiyas Everyone! How are you all? Updates may be slightly slower this month, as I am working on a piece for publication. Updates shouldn't be much longer than a week apart, if even, but I wanted to let you all know.**

**There are bugs everywhere! Luckily they can be put off by certain aromas, like the ones that follow you after you review. Don't worry, only the hypersensitive bugs can pick up on the smell, so people won't be following you around with deodorant all day. So review this! And don't get eaten by man-hungry bugs.**

"Arthur!" Elyan cried, being the first to recognize the form between the two guards. Leon and Percival, sitting next to him, stood up to greet their king. The cell door was slowly opened, and Arthur shoved inside. The knights were on him in an instant, checking him over for cuts and bruises. Even Morgana looked up from her corner, pretending not to be interested. After a moment's frenzy, Arthur saw Gwen, who nodded at him tiredly but did not get up, for Ashton was sleeping in her arms.

"Sire, are you alright?" Leon asked. Elyan and Percival were still inspecting Arthur, and having found no dire wounds, stepped back.

Arthur immediately began to sway where he stood. "I'm fine. Just- tired." Percival caught him before he fell and helped him over to the bench, because Gwaine was on the dingy mattress in the corner.

"I can't believe our luck." Arthur smiled sleepily. "I didn't know if any of you were okay. I thought- I thought- But you're all fine."

"Arthur?"

"Mmm?"

"Where's Merlin?"

It was like a sky rocket went off in Arthur's brain. He shot up off the bench. "Merlin!" he shouted. Ashton moaned in his sleep, but after a few soothing strokes from Gwen he fell back into dreams. "Gaius has him. Gaius took him."

"Gaius did what?" Percival asked, rather loudly, and then softer with a look to Ashton. "What is he going to do with Merlin?"

"I don't know." Arthur said helplessly. "I don't know what to do."

"I do."

Morgana sat up from the corner. "I know what to do." She repeated. "We're getting out of here."

"Oh, yeah?" Elyan asked rudely. "And going where?"

She didn't answer right away and Elyan shook his head. "It doesn't matter where we go." She said. Nothing good is going to come from sitting in a cell. If we get out then we can get some people together, plan a raid on the castle."

"What about Merlin?" Leon asked. "What about Gwaine?"

They all looked to the corner where Gwaine was lying, unconscious. He hadn't moved of his own accord in days.

"Gaius once told me that after 6 hours of complete unresponsiveness, a patient is declared comatose." Gwen said softly. "After that, and then depending on how much longer the patient is in their comatose state, there will be all sorts of side effects, nauseas, memory problems, incoherency. And that's if the patient does wake up."

Arthur shoved the nervousness down in his stomach, choosing instead to focus how Gwen referred to a comatose person as "the patient" when they all knew she was talking about Gwaine. Guinevere was able to distance herself from the wounded in a way that Merlin never could.

"Will he be alright?" Percival asked.

"I'm afraid I don't really know." She apologized. "He could wake up right now, feeling as if he'd just gotten up from a nap, or he could wake up and never speak again or have to vomit virtually non-stop for days." Gwen stopped herself to take a deep breath before continuing. "Or he could never wake up."

"Your precious knight doesn't matter, brother." Morgana snapped. "I'm not wasting away in here, and if you want to save Merlin, you can't exactly wait around for him."

Arthur closed his eyes for a moment, weighing his decisions.

"We must do something Sire." Leon advised. "Whether Merlin is with us or not, we cannot allow Gaius to continue his reign."

"If Merlin is not back by tomorrow night, we will leave without him." Arthur decided.

Morgana shook her head. "They'll be expecting us to make our leave at night. Tomorrow, midday. If he's not back by then we're leaving."

"We cannot hope to escape in broad daylight!" Elyan shouted. Ashton shifted, but the boy must have been obscenely tired because he still did not wake.

"You are forgetting we have magic on our side." Morgana smirked. "I am a priestess of the Old Religion, and enchanted men will not stop me."

"Wake up Ashton." Arthur ordered. Gwen looked at him, her words painted clearly on her face. "I'm sorry Gwen, but the boy needs to wake up. He may have ideas, and we'll need to go over any plan that we come up with again and again to make sure we all know it." Gwen nodded and shook Ashton lightly.

"Momma?" he said quietly. The men all looked away, embarrassed to have witnessed a moment of the boy's vulnerability.

"No, Ashton." Guinevere shook him again. "It's me, Gwen."

Ashton shot up away from her before any of them could blink; he was fast. "Gwen!" he exclaimed, mortified. "I'm sorry- I didn't-"

"Sit down." Percival invited him, deciding it was best to act as though nothing happened. "We were just about to discuss our escape plans."

"Escape plans?" he repeated. "But-"

"Yes, escape plans." Elyan assured him, gesturing for Ashton to sit with them. "But before we get started I'd just like to say that I thought you were brilliant back there, you took down more men than I could count."

Ashton blushed at the praise and ducked his head down. "How are we going to escape?" he asked, changing the subject embarrassedly.

Arthur looked over at Morgana. "I think you were just getting to that, weren't you?"

She nodded. "Yes. I'll unlock the cell doors, and then you'll need to overpower the men standing guard, as quietly as you can."

"Why don't you just knock them out too?"

Morgana harrumphed. "Magic takes energy, Leon. If I use it all up knocking out guards that you could take care of, I'll never have enough left in me to get us out here." Leon looked to Arthur, but his silent suggestion must have been too clear, because Morgana said, "And I'll not have you dumping me in the hallway as soon as I start to tire."

Ashton looked about to say something, so Arthur nodded for him to continue. "What about the other knights and squires, Sire? If got them out with us we'll be halfway to enough people for a revolution." Morgana squirmed uncomfortably, they all noticed. "I believe there are 54 men and boys who could help us, Sire, that's not a number to be ignored."

Leon nodded. "He's right, Sire. We should free the knights and squires."

"And we will." Arthur agreed.

"No!" Morgana interrupted, and they all looked over at her. She regained her composure and started again. "It's just- we cannot. Fifty four men running through the halls in daylight will be hard to miss."

"Fifty nine men." Arthur corrected. "Sixty if Merlin decides to join us, plus you two ladies."

"In daylight?"

"Then we'll change our plan for nighttime." He decided. "I don't see what the problem is."

Morgana began to go very red in the face. "We can't! We just-"

The knights began to crowd her, save Arthur, who was too tired to even lean forward."Why can't we free the knights?" Elyan asked as they approached. "Is there a reason we shouldn't?"

She was stumped, trying to think of an excuse, something to distract them. If they found out what had happened to their brothers-in-arms and the role she had played in it, they'd never get out. Or she'd never get out. Either way, Morgana needed something to explain, the men were getting closer.

"Leave her alone!" Gwen ordered, standing up. The knights turned to face her, shifting away from Morgana, who breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "If we wish to escape here, we must trust each other. If Morgana doesn't think we'll be able to free the other knights _and _get out, I believe her. And it's understandable; this plan will take a fair amount of energy from all of us, and even more from her because of the magic. We cannot have our advantage passing out on us."

Morgana hadn't even considered the idea that she might be too tired to free the knights as well; that would have been a good excuse. She tried to ignore the pang she felt in her heart when Gwen referred to her as, "the advantage." But there was nothing anyone could do about it now, best to ignore it. Heart of stone, that's what Morgause had always said. Harden your heart and never let anyone it. Learn to be impervious to the pain you feel.

She intended to.

Merlin felt sick. His stomach was rolling about, and he had a pounding headache that wouldn't go away. It had been hours since Gaius had him chained him to the flogging post, and his muscles had started to seize uncomfortably. The air was freezing cold, but he could still feel sweat _dripping _off his forehead. His cold had come back, worse than before, and it would not leave him lightly.

The sky was dark, and Merlin had to pull at the chains to make sure this was not just another of his particularly vivid dreams, and perhaps he'd wake up to Gaius coaxing water down his throat or pulling the blankets up over him. Perhaps he really was sick, perhaps he was lying in bed this instant, and Gaius was mixing something for him to take that would make him better. Perhaps Gaius was doing anything, anything other than what he was really doing.

The chain rustled, hitting against itself at Merlin's yank, and the wishful boy did not wake up.

He could barely stand anymore. Merlin was losing the fight and he knew it. His view of the courtyard from the post started rotating, and Merlin bit his tongue to stop himself from throwing up again. The earlier vomit was still on the stones in front of him, and it had begun to smell violently.

His arms were tingling painfully from being held up so high above his head in the same position. Merlin knew from experience that it would only hurt more when he was released, but he couldn't help but wish for someone to come for him soon. Even if that person dragged him back into the cells, where he would have to stare at Arthur and Gwen and Leon and Percival and Elyan and know, just _know _that he could have stopped this by telling them, saying something, but he didn't and now every single person in Camelot was suffering because of his actions.

How could it be his destiny to save Camelot if he had now, truly, destroyed it?

Gaius had ruined everything. And Gwaine- Merlin knew what was happening, must have been happening to his friend. He knew that Gwaine would most likely never wake up. Merlin couldn't look Arthur in the eye knowing that everything was his fault. All his fault.

In some far away land, Merlin heard something click, and suddenly his entire side exploded with pain. His arm floated back down by his side, and the stabbing feeling worsened. He whimpered without meaning to, and someone whispered to him, but Merlin couldn't distinguish the words. He did calm though, just before he heard the clicking again and his other arm was lowered. Merlin couldn't help it, he moaned, too loud. A wet cloth was shoved over his mouth and Merlin recognized the smell of the sedative to late, he had already breathed in. Something was wrapped around him, blocking the wind from blowing right through him like it had been.

Someone lifted him up and started walking him away from the post, Merlin realized with some relief. His legs moved underneath him instinctively, but he was too weak, far too weak, and his knees buckled. He was handed off to someone else, someone stronger, who swept him up like he weighed nothing and carried him across the courtyard.

It was now that he was safe, Merlin realized with bitter irony, now that he was safe was when his throat decided to close up, when his lungs stopped sucking in air. And he tried, he really did try, but something within him wouldn't let him breathe, and he couldn't, he _couldn't_.

Merlin couldn't breathe.

**A/N: Good news y'all: we have officially reached 100 reviews! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially those of you who reviewed more than once. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: **katierosefun, bubzchoc, DamonsImpala, fariedragon, MamzelleHermy, aRangersHorseLovesApples, **and **staymagical. **Thank you also to my guest reviewers, my mother and my friend Darcy. (So I pulled a few strings to get to 100. Eh.) The most reviewed chapter was Chapter 4 with 13 reviews. LET'S MAKE THIS THE MOST REVIEWED CHAPTER! That means 14 reviews, people! Contribute! **

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